


Summer

by imessedupmylastone



Category: As It Is (Band), Cry Baby - Melanie Martinez (Album), Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore, Twenty One Pilots, if not then now
Genre: Dom Josh, Dom Tyler, Multi, Summer Camp, gay as shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-07-15 18:12:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 32,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7233283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imessedupmylastone/pseuds/imessedupmylastone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Camp Ember is the camp of dreams... sort of</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

May 20, 2015

If there was one thing Tyler wasn’t expecting, it was a phone call from his best friend Jenna at 4am. She called to inform him, much against his will, that the two would be volunteering their summer away as camp counselors at Camp Ember, a small camp the two had attended and met at when they were still in middle school. It was described as “the child’s dream playground” to many, but Tyler had a different view of camp than Jenna did. Jenna had never been forced to go to the camp as Tyler was. No, Tyler’s mom thought it best to avoid the summer being locked away in his room playing with his piano and rather that he attend some camp for a good 2 months and 14 days. That meant 53 weekdays and 22 weekends. 10 weeks and 5 days.

Of course, Tyler couldn’t complain that much, because no matter how much he hated the idea of spending his summer frying and watching anyone from the ages of 8 to 15, Tyler enjoyed the area itself. One thing about him was he had a serious thing for aesthetically pleasing nature spots, and the Little Molas Lake in Colorado was definitely up there. Still, it seems crazy even now to take a 3 hour flight to get there, just as it did when he was 10.

Still, Jenna had her mind set on going, and Tyler was never one to disappoint her. He also knew well enough that once she had her mind set on something, it was absolutely going to happen. After all, she did already convince two more of their friends to sign up, and Tyler figured 4 would definitely be a party. As far as he knew, she already signed the group up, and with extra help needed and a wide budget, the camp was more than happy to pay for the group to fly out from Ohio. Tyler, just had to be sure to tell Jenna he was sitting by her on the flight. She’d be occupied enough with her music and frankly Tyler wasn’t sure if he could listen to Brendon talk about stupid stuff for three hours. Therefore, Tyler would take the window.

It’s not that Tyler didn’t like Brendon or anything, as the two have been friends almost as long as him and Jenna, but Brendon had a habit of rambling and complaining about almost anything except for any boys or girls he dubbed cute. In that case, he tended to flirt nonstop with them until the poor person gave in, and then Brendon would move on shortly after. 

So yes, Tyler would indeed take the window seat of the plane ride that he had exactly three days to prepare for. Three days and he’d be the counselor at a camp in Colorado. Three days and he’d be teaching whatever it is they deemed him good at to a ton of children that would be his responsibility for the rest of the summer.

When Tyler had told his mom of this, calling her later the same day, she practically squealed at the idea of Tyler returning to a place that she believed he loved with all his heart. Tyler simply could not love Camp Ember though. It wasn’t just because he was antisocial, but rather that his memories there were not as good as other camper’s might have had. His mostly consisted of anxiety attacks (which he still occasionally gets), a severe rash from what he didn’t recall, getting lost, and one night where Tyler was thrown into the lake at midnight by some other campers. While that last one was the absolute worse for him because Tyler did not know how to swim at the time, Jenna found him that night. Not only did she teach him how to swim, she punched those guys the next day and a beautiful friendship started among the two. Ever since then the two have practically been inseparable. And yet, Tyler couldn’t help but sigh as he texted Jenna, double checking flight times and boarding passes.

To: Witchbitch   
Hey Jen are you absolutely sure about this? Do we even know how many campers will be there?

To: Side Ho  
Yes I’m sure. No we have no clue.

To: Witchbitch  
And we’re meeting up when?

To: Side Ho  
We r going to pick you up at 7. We will drive to the airport, get breakfast and then be on our way. Can you plz stop stressing Ty?

To: Witchbitch  
Fine…


	2. Chapter 2

May 23, 2015

Tyler was in hell.

Not literally, but to Tyler he was in hell. He'd woken up at six, only to be picked up at seven thirty (curtesy of Brendon), which left the group running through the airport to catch their plane. The flight itself could've been better, as Tyler was sent into an anxiety attack over some turbulence, and now they were in a small car on the way to Camp Ember. At the airport the group had been picked up by one of the counselors who went by the name of Pete who apparently helped run the place now.

Pete was a small emo fella who talked about as much as Brendon did, and so Tyler and Jenna happily left them to the front seats. Along the way Pete started to explain that the group would be assigned positions based on the talents they said they had on the volunteer sheets. The campers wouldn't be arriving until tomorrow and therefore that left the others time to adjust until the bonfire tonight. Off and on the counselors would have their own bonfires where they were free to complain as much as they pleased. They were also told that they would be given cabins to stay in with other counselors, which Tyler was maybe not too keen on. The idea of bunking with a ton of strangers and Brendon just didn't sound appealing.

The car eventually started to slow at a place Tyler barely recognized anymore. The camp grounds were set up with multiple cabins and a few activity centers. In the far edge of the camp, there sat a fire pit which Tyler assumed was for the bonfires, and towards the far right of the entrance sat the lake. The soft sand beaches glistened in the sunlight of the early afternoon, and Tyler watched as two guys started carrying canoes to the ports.

"Welcome to Camp Ember," Pete smiled as the group pulled up to the staff parking lot. Brendon for once in his life was stunned to silence, and Jenna was just marveling in memories. Tyler was just glad they didn't die because of Pete's driving skills. "You'll have to go to the information and help center to the left behind the music hall. You'll find Hayley or Patrick setting up some stuff and they'll be able to help you guys with cabins and where you'll be working. In the mean time I have to go check in with Ryan to make sure we have all the supplies for his nature hikes. Good luck guys," and with that Pete left the small group to grab their bags and make their way to the information center.

Brendon finally started talking again, mumbling on about how hot it was already, and Jenna just laughed, obviously too happy to be annoyed. It wasn't until they reached the information center that the three all stopped talking. Instead they stared up at the broken sign indicating it was indeed the correct building. Jenna was the first to enter, pushing open the old door.

Inside, it was smaller than appeared. There was a single long table, where the workers stand behind, and a small TV in the corner of the room, stuck on some local news station. Along the walls sat multiple maps and pictures of the land, and on one wall sat a beautiful painting done of the lake.

"It was made by one of the counselors," a girl's voice caught the group's attention, turning them away from the beautiful painting. They turned to see a petite girl with flaming red and pink hair smiling at them. She leaned over the counter, waving slightly as the group walked towards her. "The names Hayley. You must be our last couple of counselors? The ones from Ohio?" 

"That's us," Jenna cheered happily, reaching out to shake the girl's hand. Hayley smiled, walking to grab a few papers from behind the counter and started laying them out on the tables.

"OK," she said, looking down at the mess of pamphlets and other papers, "This has basically everything you need to know. We have the map of camp, the map of the whole area, cabin names, group activities, and the schedule of any important days or events that you'll need to know. As for your classes or activities you're in charge of you're going to have to talk to everyone else that works in that and see what time you want class or whatever to start. Now as for your classes, there will be a list of students waiting for you, and I have the list of what cabins you're in, who you're bunking with and who you're in charge of for the rest of camp. Now, who's Brendon?" Brendon politely raised his hand and she happily handed him a piece of paper. "Ok Brendon you're going to be working alongside Pete, me and a guy named Patrick. Jenna..." she handed Jenna a piece of paper as well. "You're going to be in the arts and crafts department working with Debby on crafts and Gerard on art. He painted that picture." 

Finally the small girl turned to me and handed me a paper as well, "Tyler. I was quite happy when I read your skills. Frank's been needing some serious help, and thus you are working in the music department. Now it'll be just you two, but I have faith you can keep it all under control yeah?" Frank nodded softly, sending Jenna an 'I am going to murder you' look. She shrugged and they all turned back to Hayley.

"Now, that paper has the list of kids, your cabin, and just about everything else. I know this seems like a lot to take in but we're here to help, and you'll pick up on everything real fast. The last thing is we're having a counselor's bonfire tonight at nine so don't be late. That's all I believe." She smiled, and then her cellphone started ringing, and with that the three friends made their way outside.

"The Cherry Cabin," Jenna read out loud, "I wonder if there's gonna be anyone cute in my cabin. I hope so. That'd be... yes." Almost as if on cue, the other two rolled their eyes, used to Jenna's ways. At this, Tyler also looked down at his own paper, and sighed in relief as the kids he would look after were at a pretty decent age.

Tyler Joseph:

Cabin: Hilltop Cabin 

Job Area: Music Hall

Kid's: 

Hillary- 15 

Zoey-15 

John- 15

Daniel- 15 

Zach- 15

Troye- 15 

Megan- 15

"Well, I guess we better get to unpacking. I'll see you boys in a bit ok? Love you guys." Jenna smiled and happily started down the path, leaving Brendon and Tyler behind as they read over their lists one more time. Honestly, Tyler was slightly angry with Jenna for putting down music as a skill. Sure he could teach it, but he always got slightly nervous in front of new people when playing.

"Well... what cabin are you in?" Brendon asked, distracting Tyler from being upset.

"Hilltop."

"Looks like we're rooming together," Brendon smiled, and Tyler wondered if it was too late to get a room change.

-

The cabin was smaller than Tyler expected, with two bunk beds, one on each side of the room. It looked as if the two top bunks were taken, leaving Tyler and Brendon the bottom two. When they did enter the room however, there stood a boy, a bit taller than Tyler, with flaming red hair. He wore grey skinny jeans and a black shirt with a leather jacket. When he did see Tyler and Brendon he flashed a smile. 

"Hey you must be the Ohio guys. I'm Gerard," he shook both their hands before returning to looking at the beds. "Ok so I have a dilemma. Which one of you is willing to switch bunks with me, because I Frank migh- wait neither of you are homophobic are you?" Brendon laughed and Tyler shook his head no, obviously. "Ok so my boyfriend Frank and I have this tendency to sleep in the same bed or whatever and the top may be a bad idea. Any takers?" Brendon raised his hand of course, and Gerard smiled brightly before moving all his stuff to the bottom bunk.

"Do you know who else is rooming here?" Tyler asked, putting his stuff on the bottom bunk of the other bed. Gerard nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yeah it's Josh. He's in charge of like all the sports that go on here. Nice guy too. Been working with him for the past three years, since he was 18." Tyler nodded absently. "Wait I forgot to ask, what are your guys' names?" 

"I'm Brendon that's Tyler." Brendon spoke up for them both. 

"So have you guys check out where you're working yet?" both the boys shook their head and Gerard smiled. "Come on I'll show you."

-

"Boys this is Frank," Gerard said as the three walked into the music hall. The guy was short, with black hair that fell in his face, and above all, the guy had a neck tattoo. It was actually pretty cool looking, and he took a moment to marvel at it before Frank started speaking to him. "So you're my new music worker huh? Nice to meet you," Frank stuck out his hand and Tyler graciously took it. He also took a moment to take in the music room around him, which was in all honesty the most amazing thing he'd seen yet. Tyler had always been one for grand pianos and honestly the one sat by the ukulele and guitar rack was the most beautiful Frank had ever seen. There also sat an arrangement trumpets and just about every other string instrument possible.

"This is pretty amazing," Tyler said looking around in awe still. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Brendon smile fondly, as he tended to do when Tyler got passionate about music. Brendon had always supported him when it came to music, even buying him a new keyboard when Tyler's broke a few years back. While Brendon may be an annoying ass, he was always there for Tyler, and so Tyler was thankful to have him in his life.

"Yeah it is pretty great. The kids really seem to love having it around." Frank smiled, looking down at the ground for a small moment. "Anyways, it's around time for dinner, and I've been tuning guitars all day. Will someone please accompany me to the dining hall because I'm desperately in need of some food right now?" Frank sat his guitar down, stretching slightly and smiling before starting to walk to the door.

"You know, I think you guys are gonna fit right in here," Gerard smiled as the four started out to the dining hall. The walk wasn't too far from the music hall which was nice, but still Tyler got to take in all the nature around him. He took in all the beautiful flowers and trees such as oak and evergreen. He sighed as the light summer breeze hit him, and then he was actually hit. Jenna flew in, hugging him from the side which made them both fall to the ground.

"Tyler, Tyler, Tyler!" Jenna said excitedly as she jumped up, helping him up as well, "You will never guess how lucky I am holy shit! I have the perfect job and cabin with the most beau- who's that?" she stopped suddenly, noticing the other two boys that stood near them. 

"Jen this is Gerard and Frank," Tyler explained, pointing to the two. They both laughed awkwardly and smiled as Jenna took their hands. "Gerard works in the art department and I'm working with Frank here," he also explained.

"I hope you don't mind that I join you all?" Jenna asked, and the others shook their heads, welcoming her happily to dinner. Immediately Brendon launched into a conversation with Gerard and Frank about the special events that go on during the year, and Jenna hung back, excitedly telling Tyler about her job. "Ok so there's this girl I'm working with. Debby. Oh my god Tyler I thought I was gonna die when I saw her. Plus I met Pete again on the way back and that Ryan guy. Don't tell Brendon but he and Ryan would be so cute. Now we just have to find you someone." 

"Ok Jen calm down. We just got here, and we have quite a bit of time left yeah? Let's just see what happens." Jenna seemed satisfied with that as an answer, and finally the small group arrived at the dining hall. It was lined with multiple tables and benches, each cleaned the best as wood could be cleaned. Behind the food counter sat two guys, one with a huge afro and the other with smooth blonde hair, shaved down to brown on the sides. The small group approached them, and the blonde one handed them each a paper plate for food.

"New guys huh?" the afro man asked, looking them over. "I'm Ray."

"That's Mikey," Gerard said, pointing to the blonde one who went to go get some food for everyone from the back, "he's my brother. I mean, I'm the older one so naturally I'm better bu-"

"I can still hear you," Mikey shouted from the back, making all the others laugh in amusement at the sibling bickering. Gerard smirked as Mikey came back carrying food in containers for them all. He handed it to them with a sigh and sat down once more before pulling out his phone to text someone.

"Are you all coming to the bonfire tonight?" Ray asked them with a kind smile. At this Jenna's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Jenna smiled happily.

"Great. You guys wonna meet up with Josh and me? We'll save you spots." Ray offered. Brendon nodded, always enthusiastic about meeting new people, while Tyler groaned at the thought of going out in general. He'd always been more of an introvert than his two best friends, but that was always ok with him.

-

Tyler had expected it to be a bit lighter than it was, but as the night fell upon the forest, darkness overcame the camp. In all honesty, even though the shadows were terrifying, it was absolutely breathtaking as he looked into the forest you couldn't see through. The light at the moment came from the fair, which Tyler and Jenna were arriving slightly late to as Jenna had to look perfect for this Debby girl.

When they arrived at the burning pit, which had embers flying into the air beautifully, Tyler looked around for his friends. He caught sight of Brendon whom was sat by Ray and some guy with bright blue hair. That's when Tyler felt himself almost melt. The guy sat there, his hair curling slightly, and eyes squinting as he laughed at something Pete said. He was in all honesty... breathtaking. 

Tyler stumbled almost as he made his was to sit down, three spaces away from the blue haired boy. Jenna sat right next to him, making sure to get a spot by this Debby girl. Tyler had to admit, they'd be a cute couple, being Jenna with her mature blonde ways, and Debby more child-like and with died silver hair. Tyler however could not focus on Jenna and her lesbian ways, as his eyes were still set on the boy with blue hair. A boy that made Tyler think, maybe this summer won't be so bad. I mean, it's not every day you get to see someone that hot. He was almost so distracted by how brown the boys' eyes were that he almost didn't even notice Frank started talking to him.

"Ok so that's Hayley as you might have guessed. Uh, sitting by her is Patrick, he's always gonna be wearing a fedora, and if he isn't then he was probably just getting it on with Pete moments before. Next to him is Debby. She's Josh's best friend. Josh is that guy," he pointed to the blue haired boy. Tyler almost fell off the stump he was currently sitting on because holy fuck, he's going to be rooming with this guy. "And finally that's Ryan. Don't be fooled by the fluffy hair and sweaters. The guy is a serious pyrotechnic."

Almost as if on cue, Josh turned his head, meeting Tyler's eyes with his own. Tyler could literally feel the air being sucked out of him as the guy smiled, waving slight to Tyler. If he wasn't frozen Tyler might have waved back, but thankfully Pete spoke up, distracting everyone. 

"Welcome back to Camp Ember for another year, and welcome to our three new members. We are looking forward to another year at this camp, and we know you'll have a goo-"

"Get on with it already. We have one night of freedom left and if you don't hurry with this speech I swear to god I will light your hair on fire." Ryan chimed in from the side, making Brendon bust out laughing, and in that moment you could see Ryan had become very interested in the new counselor. 

"Uh right then. I guess that's all. Good luck tomorrow guys, you'll do great," and with that Pete sat back down and waited as Ryan stood up.

"Welcome. As it is our last night of freedom and me and Mikey brought alcohol, I propose we all have a bit of fun. Now you all know that the game paranoia? Basically the person to your right asks you a question and you must answer with the name of someone in the group out loud." Everyone nodded slight and the first up was Ryan who was whispered to by Hayley. A small smirk played on his lips and he answered with a quick "Brendon." This continued through the night, names being called, and then finally one name said mine. I looked up to see the blue-haired Josh smiling slightly at me. My eyes widened and he winked before the game continued. After that though, his eyes didn't seem to leave me for so long.

"Guys I really don't feel like watching kids tomorrow," Frank sighed, looking up at the stars as at some point his head winded up on Gerard's lap. The others gave a sort of half asleep, half drunken laugh. I noticed Gerard reach for a marshmallow and sigh as they had disappeared. Apparently the marshmallows were not to be shared or else they would disappear. No one let Ray touch them either after an 'incident that shall not be spoken of.' 

"Don't you have the new kid to help?" Ryan asked, leaning against an all too willing Brendon. 

"Yeah I have a name," I laughed slightly, a bit more comfortable with these people than when I first arrived, "my name is Tyler you know." Ryan smiled, waving me off slightly with his hands.

"Too much to remember. What do you even play? I mean they don't let just anyone join the music department you know." Ryan was now looking at me with eyes that were actually studying me.

"A little bit of everything I guess. Piano and ukulele mostly, but I do dabble a bit in guitar."

"He sings." I turned to Jenna with shocked eyes. I rarely told people I sang, but yet she still insisted that I share my 'talent with the world.' At this however, the group raised their eyebrows, and I noticed a small smile playing on Josh's lips from the corner of my eye. That's the first time Josh Dun spoke to me.

"So you gonna sing for us?" My head immediately shook to decline, but no one was paying attention anymore. Pete, Patrick, and Hayley had already gone back to the cabins to get some rest which was probably what I should be doing, and yet here I was sitting outside still shivering in the cool Colorado night air. Jenna and Debby had walked off not to get some sleep, but to grab blankets for everyone, but it had been a good fifteen minutes now and neither of the girls had returned yet.

"You scared?" Ryan asked in a teasing tone, and I could feel the anxiety boiling up inside of me. Singing had always been such a private thing to me, and honestly I was starting to panic slightly. My breath became unsteady, and that's when I knew I needed to get out of there for a while.

"I'm going on a walk," I said standing up abruptly. Immediately I can see the guilt spread across their faces, but I'm already starting to walk away. Brendon makes a small attempt to call out to me, but I started walking away from them to a place I remembered quiet vividly. The place was small, and was just as cold this time of night, but it was quiet with the only sound being crickets. This was where I met Jenna.

I sat in silence for a while, thinking over my own thoughts. I shivered slightly, but thinking was more important then going back to go and get a blanket, and besides, it was quite beautiful out. The moon beamed down through the treetops just enough to reflect on the lake, lighting up the area with a beautiful glow. I became so mesmerized by the lights, I didn't even notice the boy walk up behind me.

"I'm sorry." Josh whispered sitting down by me, only making me jump slightly. He reached over, handing something to Tyler, which he took to be a blanket, and quickly wrapped it around himself. "I didn't know you were gonna freak out, I just assumed that you'd enjoy playing stuff for people if you signed up for the music department and I ju-"

"I didn't."

"What?"

"I didn't sign up for the music department," I sighed, "Jenna signed us all up. I wasn't even aware I was going to be here until a few days ago. I mean I came here as a kid, and let's just say it's not one of my most favorite places in the world. Don't feel bad, I'm just... this is a lot to take in."

"If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't looking forward to this summer at all until earlier. I mean, spending the summer with someone with looks like yours doesn't sound too bad to me," he smiled at me again. That's when I figured, maybe he was right. Maybe this summer wouldn't suck all that much...


	3. Chapter 3

May 24, 2015

To say Tyler was nervous was a complete understatement. He’d never taken care of anything except for a fish, and even that little thing eventually met it’s fate. The thought of taking care of multiple children? Now that thought physically repelled Tyler to the point where he felt he might be sick. 

He hadn’t the single clue as to how you manage children. Hell, he was barely a functioning teen himself when he was that age, and now they expect him to take care of others? He always had issues when he was younger. This ranged all the way from being bullied to short therapy lessons that honestly did nothing for him. He didn’t even see the need in the therapy sessions that dawned on for hours on end. 

They really were the worst years of Tyler’s somewhat short life. His mother insisted that he start them around the time his parents separated. At that time he fell into what could be considered depression, but really Tyler just didn’t see the need for words. He didn’t feel the need to physically speak to anyone, and so his mother dubbed him crazy and sent him off to get fixed. Then there came the subject of the hell sessions themselves. They lasted for hours, with the same question being asked over and over again. “What’s the matter?” Tyler fucking hated that question. Really his first therapist was the worst. She was some prim and proper gal with a short temper. His second, the hippy as Tyler referred to her, was almost too kind. Hell, she even recommended he get a pet to help him out, thus the fish. After that his mom just gave up, and that little fish was all had left, but this? This was so much more responsibility than a tiny fish that swam around all day.

“Tyler?” The boy was snapped out of his thoughts by Brendon whom was just now waking up. Gerard and Frank were curled up on Gerard’s bed, both of them sleeping soundly. The memories of last night flooded back to Tyler, and he remembered it all. He remembered Josh and him talking for a few hours, just about stupid shit. He remembered Josh and him walking back to the cabin, and Tyler crawling into bed. He remembered Josh whispering a sweet goodnight before crawling into his own bed. Now however, it seems the blue-haired boy was nowhere to be seen. “Tyler?” Brendon called once more, slightly louder than last time, but still quiet enough, as not to wake the two sleeping boys.

“Yeah?” Tyler glanced over at the clock which hung on the doorway to the room. They still had roughly two hours left before busses and cars full of campers would start arriving. Tyler figured this still gave him enough time to get a shower and maybe grab something quick to eat.

“Are you ready?” Brendon smiled at Tyler, his eyes flashing with excitement and nervousness.

“No,” Tyler breathed out. Frank had given him a basic run down of how everything would go last night. The campers arrive, and you meet the group you’re assigned to. Then we help get campers settled in, and tomorrow the actual teachings being. Simple.

“Chill Ty you’ll be fine. How long until people arrive?”

“Two hours or so,” Tyler answered.

“Great.” And with that Brendon rolled back over and covered himself back up. Tyler shook his head, stretching before standing up and grabbing some clothes. He wasn’t particularly fond of the idea that he had to shower in a community staff shower room, but it wasn’t like he was complaining all that much. A shower, after all, was still a shower no matter where he had to take it. 

And so Tyler walked outside the Hilltop Cabin, and smiled slightly as the warm morning air hit him. He immediately smelt the mix of pine and whatever Ray and Mikey were making for breakfast. Looking around he noticed Hayley and Patrick walking and pointing to some paperwork that Patrick was holding in his hands. Ryan was talking to Debby and Jenna near the lake, and as Tyler looked over the beautiful glistening lake he froze. Carrying a few water rackets from the lake was Josh. He was walking towards the sports shed with only a swimsuit on, his hair and body dripping with water. Tyler almost dropped to the ground as he watched Josh, his eyes stopping as they noticed the boy’s swim trunks were hanging quiet low on his waste. 

Tyler just watched, his jaw hanging open slightly as he watched the boy walk into the cabin and appear once more. Josh put a hand through his damp hair and turned, catching the gaping Tyler with his eyes before smirking slightly.

“You just gonna stand there and watch me?” Josh called, and suddenly Tyler was all too aware of how close he was to the shed. He was barely standing 20 feet away from Josh, who was finding far too much amusement in Tyler’s flabbergasted state. And then Josh was walking towards Tyler, and Tyler was freaking out just a little bit as the shirtless boy neared him with a smirk on his face. “I don’t bite… at least not yet,” and with a wink from Josh, Tyler felt his cheeks rise to what he assumed was a Dolce & Gabbana lipstick color in the shade Fearless.

“I… uh…” Tyler was at an utter loss for words, his hands fumbling hopelessly with the towel and pair of clothes he held in his hands.

“I mean I won’t bite hard, unless you want me to.”

“No!” Tyler rushed, stuttering slightly, “no… I mean… I’m just gonna go take my shower now. Before the campers arrive. Yeah.” And before he knew it Tyler was practically running away from Josh and to the staff shower cabin. Thankfully it didn’t appear that Josh had followed Tyler, and maybe he was in the clear.

 

-

“Morning staff!” Hayley yelled from the front. Basically the staff was supposed to wait here for a good thirty minutes, and finally Hayley showed up informing them all that campers would start arriving in a good five minutes or so. Jenna was already jumping around all excited and shit. Brendon was too engulfed in a conversation with Ryan, and Tyler had been desperately trying to avoid Josh’s eyes ever since the incident that morning. “I know you’re all probably a little nervous, and it’s gonna be a great summer. We will assign you groups the moment the buses get here, and it’s your job to show them around. Good luck guys.” That was the moment the first bus arrived, and Tyler felt he might be sick.

The bus pulled to a halt, and campers of all ages started filing out with Hayley and Patrick yelling directions of where to go. “Children under the age of ten go to the right! Ages 11 to 13 go to the left. Ages 14 to 15 keep walking towards the guy with blue hair and the brunette by him!” They repeated the directions over and over again, but it seemed it was working, as older campers started arriving where Josh and Tyler were standing.

Tyler noticed the first few people and took a mental note of appearances as he and Josh started calling names. Troye was first. Small, brunet, blue eyes, light accent. Zoey, small, brunette, British. Megan, small, brunette, scary smile. She was talking to two girls in Josh’s group whom Tyler didn’t get the names of, but he noticed them as yet another brunette and a girl with pastel purple hair. Hillary, blonde, quiet, stuck on her phone. Daniel, brunette, wonna be emo. Zach, taller, Native American, loud. Tyler also noticed the unknown girls giggling and pointing at him and Josh.  
“Hey director guy,” Megan shouted towards him, “You look a little homosexual. Are you gay?” Tyler at that moment choked on air and Josh erupted into a fit of laughter. She turned to the other two and nodded before they all let out a squeal.

“Oh my god how many counselors do you think are gay? I can get so much fic inspiration here!” the unknown brunette cheered gleefully, and Tyler let out a sigh. Of course he’d get stuck with the people that appeared to belong in a mental institution. Honestly, it’s like he attracted crazy people or something.

“Keep laughing Josh,” Tyler said in a totally serious tone, “two of them are with you though. It’s only a matter of time before they realize you aren’t the straightest crayon in the box.”

“Doesn’t matter if I’m the straightest.” Josh smiled, “as long as my color fits my asthetic.” And with that, Josh turned away from Tyler. Tyler could only sigh, turning back to the group of his that filled up rather quickly. Luckily, this gave him a chance to be rid of Josh for a short while, allowing him to give tours instead.

-

He gathered up the group of kids as he led them to the last place they would need to see on the tour, the music hall. He had spent a majority of the time trying to ignore Megan and make small talk with the other campers, but alas it was absolutely to no avail, as she never shut up. Honestly, it could be a lot worse, he could be stuck with Brendon’s group. He got a group of ten year old kids, and quite frankly when they started showing up Brendon started freaking out. He had never exactly been good at taking care of children, which led to him freaking out every time a child so happen to step   
in his general direction. Even a few years back when Jenna handed him her younger cousin for a good 2 seconds Brendon flipped. 

“Hey Ty, nice of you to join us,” Frank smiled as the group walked into the music hall where Frank was currently lecturing his group. Tyler smiled, taking a seat next to the black haired boy, his group sitting down next to Frank’s. “Welcome to music 101. I’m Mr. Iero an-“

“Like Oreo?” some kid yelled from the back, making Frank sigh in slight annoyance.

“No. Just… call me Frank ok? This is Tyler. We teach music. I personally will focus more on guitar here but Tyler can play piano.”

“And ukulele,” Tyler chimed in from the side, and automatically a few kids’ eyes lit up like Christmas lights. Tyler figured those would be the ones who would take the music class. One thing he noticed, was each of the kids were passionate about something. Hillary had an interest in leading, Daniel in theatre, Troye in music, Zoey in fashion and literature, Zach in sports, and finally Megan in… well Megan was one of those odd people that obsesses over others’ lives more than her own. That could be a problem later on.

“So basically you can all go and enjoy some free time, and we’ll see you all at the bonfire tonight!” Frank said happily and all the young campers started filing out of the music hall. One girl however, with bright eyes walked up shyly to Tyler, staring up at him.

“Can you teach me to play piano? I wonna show my brother.” She said quietly, and Tyler couldn’t help but smile at her. She had to be only nine or ten years old, and frankly Tyler couldn’t say no to a child.

“Of course.”

“Thank you!” she smiled and happily ran out of the room after the other kids. Frank couldn’t help but look over at Tyler and smile a little bit. Maybe after he opened the boy up more it would help. He was already perfect for the job.

“That was little Rina,” Frank said smiling, “been coming here since she was only a few years old.” Tyler turned to Frank in confusion.

“I thought this place had age restrictions on how old people had to be to be here.” Frank smiled, walking to the door of the music hall and leaned up against it. They stood there, watching as the children ran back and forth.

“Tyler do you know who a girl named Laura is?” Frank asked softly. Tyler thought for a moment. He’d only known one Laura his entire life, and he hadn’t since her since he was about ten.

“No.” he said instead.

“Well she owns this place. She has a few people check up on her daughter and son once in a while, but otherwise you’ll hardly hear from her. Nice lady, the one time I actually got to meet her. Anyways, Rina there is her daughter.” Tyler looked over at the small black haired girl that was hula-hooping. She looked familiar for some reason… Tyler just couldn’t place why…


	4. Chapter 4

May 25, 2015

Tyler woke from the sound of his alarm going off. All camp counselors were required to get up a while earlier than the campers. To Tyler, this translated to: No sleep until the kids went home for their next off weekend. That was next week. Until then, he was stuck hating the fact that he was supposed to get up so early.

When he did roll over, he already noticed that Josh was nowhere to be seen, and of course Brendon was probably already in the dining hall. Gerard and Frank were already awake, but hadn't left the room yet. Instead, they were lying in bed, Frank's head on Gerard's chest, both of them whispering and laughing quietly. 

Tyler had the overwhelming urge to just roll back over and sleep for the rest of the day, but Gerard and Frank had already noticed he was awake. Frank threw a pillow over at Tyler, making him internally groan at the thought of... well anything other than laying here for the next few hours.

"Come on, camper will probably already be awake." Gerard stated.

"What the hell are those kids made of?" Tyler sighed, making Frank laugh.

"Youth."

 

-

 

"Ty!" Jenna cheered as she ran to envelop Tyler into a hug, practically crushing his bones in the process. Debby laughed from the side, making Jenna chuckle as well. Josh watched from beside Hayley, his eyebrows pulled together, making an expression Tyler couldn't read.

"Morning Jen," I said as I hugged her back.

"Tyler!" Hayley cheered as well, making me smile. Today her bright red hair was pulled into some weird ponytail only she could probably pull off. "Ok now that you're here we can start preparing. We have some strong counselors this year and I'll be damned if we lose to Camp I.N.T.N again in the games I sw-"

"Hayley breathe!" Josh said laughing. 

"Games?" Tyler asked, making Hayley's eyes light up with joy. It seems she was a tad bit passionate about whatever these games were.

"The Camp Summer Games. One of the most prized competitions out here. Basically fifteen of the camps here compete. The categories are in music, sports, and arts. We usually do really well, hell we've been second place for the last three years. The first place has been Camp I.N.T.N, a slightly more prestigious camp. The only thing I enjoy about them is the arguments between them, Gerard, and Josh." She said, scoffing at the other camps name. It seemed she had some serious beef against these people. For such a little person though, it was weird seeing her get so angry over the subject of some games.

"I have no doubt we'll win this year though. You and Frank are on music, Gerard, Jenna and Deb on art, and Josh and Ryan on the sports. I'm confident we'll dominate... that is if we don't get disqualified again." She sighed.

"Disqualified?" Jenna asked in confusion.

"Giving Ryan fire was a bad idea, ok I'll own up to that." Josh said, holding his hands up in surrender at Hayley's piercing look.

"Josh when people go home with third degree burns and we almost get sued for 'attempting to burn a lake" is a bit more than a bad idea. I've told you before that giving him fire is a bad idea."

"You gotta admit that final show was lit though," he said, sending her a cheeky grin. I groaned and he turned to me, smirking slightly before winking. I felt my cheeks heat up a little, and I looked down, smiling a slight bit. Jenna seemed to notice, and bummed into be a little from the side. 

"Just... no more fire ok?" Debby laughed, and Josh fake sighed before agreeing. "Jen we gotta get going, campers join us in thirty minutes." The group nodded, and Hayley mentioned that she needed to go find Brendon and Patrick. The group slowly dispersed, leaving only Tyler and Josh.

"Hey Ty Guy?" Josh smiled walking towards him, "you know we won't need any fire because you'll already be too hot for everyone. I'm sure you'd give people third degree burns at the simple sound of you m-"

"Josh!" Tyler yelled, not sure whether to laugh or blush, so he settled on both at the same time. 

"Sorry, I'm just surprised you aren't tired with all the stuff we did in my dreams last night." Josh said, sending Tyler another cheeky smile. Tyler laughed, shoving Josh slightly as the two started walking towards the Music Hall.

"There's a reason they were dreams." Tyler smiled.

"Trust me babe, they don't have to be dreams." Josh sent a wink to Tyler, making them both laugh a little. "I mean we always have the weekends when the campers leave..." Josh whispered that last part, and Tyler's cheeks lit up like an inferno. 

By then, the two had arrived at the hall, and Tyler spotted Frank inside, tuning a guitar. Tyler and Josh walked to the door, just as the alarm signaling the start of camp went off, and the campers started to emerge.

"I guess I'll see you later sweet-cheeks." Josh said with a smile, and once more, Tyler couldn't help but blush.

 

-

 

Normally Tyler would have no problem with teaching a music class to kids. This one however, just happened to have Megan in it, and Megan was turning out to be a slightly annoying person. She honest to god never shut up, and she kept eyeing Tyler in a way that made him horribly uncomfortable.

Frank looked like he was going crazy as well, as he was now sat on his stool, guitar in hand just rubbing his head. He gave up after Megan started asking if there would be any boyband songs we could perform. Frank looked like he was going to throw an instrument at her face at any moment now.

"Pleeeeaaassseee Frank?" Megan begged now, practically shaking Frank's shoulders. "I'm sure Tyler would be ok with it."

"Don't pull me into this," I chimed in from the stool that was sat next to Frank's. He turned and sent me a major death glare before turning to Megan and sighed once again. 

"Megan," Frank began, "I don't think that's a good idea. Classical songs will hold more value and music. It'd be much more beneficial overall to use songs that are a bit older than you may be used to. That's not always a bad thing. Besides, all the other camps will do some form of boyband. And in order for your... senpas?"

"Senpai." Megan said.

"Right. In order for your Senpai to notice you you've got to be different. Isn't that what you want Megan? To be noticed?" At this, Megan nodded furiously.

"Oh my god you're totally right!" She exclaimed happily. "I will get them to notice me. This will definitely work. Thanks Frank!" With that, she finally ran back to the other group of students who looked at relieved as Tyler did that there'd be no boyband songs in this class. It's not that there was anything wrong with boybands, but rather that they were overdone. Tyler also felt there was little value to any of the lyrics. 

Lyrics were some of the most important things to Tyler. He often wrote some himself at the early hours of the morning when he found that he couldn't sleep. And so he decided to write into words the emotions that he couldn't really express to anyone else. Music had been his way of telling things to others for as long as he'd remembered.

"When can we start?" A small, but bold voice called from the back, distracting Tyler from his thoughts. He looked up to see little Rina sitting at a piano, looking ready as ever. He couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. She was so full of excitement as she looked at Tyler with wide brown eyes.

"Now?" Frank asked, unsure of if he actually wanted to start these classes.

"Now." Tyler replied with a smile.

 

-

 

Class wasn't nearly as bad as Tyler thought it was going to be at first. He was originally scared that something would go horribly wrong and someone would wind up hurt, but no. Instead, Tyler got to walk around, learning about some of the students and how they interacted with their instruments. It was nice to get to know everyone and teach them a few things.

Still, nothing could stop the horrible tiredness that came with working with these kids. After the classes all finished for the day, everyone was allowed free time including the counselors. Or course Tyler opted for the lake, because swimming at sunset sounded amazing to Jenna and Brendon. And of course when those two got an idea in there head it was gonna happen no matter what.

So now Tyler was sat on the edge of the lake, the water covering his feet as he read a book. He could hear Jen and Brendon laughing in the background, splashing water at each other. Tyler on the other hand preferred more quiet environments that usually didn't involve getting wet. 

"You look lonely." Tyler heard a voice to the side and he looked up to see a grinning Josh. I internally sighed and sat my book down as he grabbed a seat next to me. "whatcha reading Ty?" Josh asked softly.

"Some cheesy novel about the zombie apocalypse or something." I said, smiling some. Josh laughed. 

"Nerd." He whispered and this time it was my turn to laugh.

"Whatever. I own my nerdiness. I am like... the king of nerds and proud." Josh shook his head and laughed, bumping into me a little. I couldn't help but join him. From the distance, Jenna and Brendon stopped talking, staring in our direction. I heard Jen awe, and saw Brendon make motions with his hands that define tell implied me and Josh would do sinful things. Still, that laugh was something I'd not remember... even when it'd later be the thing that hurt the most.


	5. Chapter 5

May 26, 2015

Tyler was woken up early by Brendon. He and Hayley needed some help setting up some of the stuff to start practicing for the games, and apparently Tyler was the best option out of the others. Tyler didn't even bother arguing with them at this point. Together, Hayley and Brendon could make the most impossible team to argue against.

And so Tyler rolled out of bed, quite literally, even hitting his head on the desk between bunks. He threw on one of those man tank top things he could never remember the name of, and headed outside with them. Per usual, Josh was nowhere to be seen, and his other two roommates were sleeping still. 

The things that they needed to move was some of the sports equipment. The goal was to figure out what each kid was good at, and get them into that category for the games. The camp decided to get a head start this year so they'd be sure to win no matter what. So the sports nets had to be set up along with the water equipment. Josh was helping set up, and with some guts from Brendon, they managed to get Gerard up to help them. Frank decided to sleep instead. Tyler wanted to be Frank in that moment.

It's not like Tyler was complaining about getting to watch Josh carry stuff around for hours though. In fact, it was quiet enjoyable. It's just that he valued sleep above just about everything else in his simple life. 

"Tyler, can you run to the sports shed and bring out the volleyball nets?" Hayley asked in her usual chipper tone. Tyler nodded and jogged to the shed. He found the nets sitting in a pile by the paddleboards. He quickly scooped them up into his arms and ran back out to the others. At this moment a car pulled up. 

It was actually more like a small van as it neared. Tyler also noticed it had a few words written on the side. He figured this must be another camp based on the way that Hayley turned and frowned as they pulled up.

The van stopped and Tyler noticed that it was four girls and a guy that was with them. They stepped out, and decided to quickly look over their looks. The boy was friendly looking, with sandy brown hair and a nose piercing. He wore skinny jeans and a "Defend Pop-Punk" shirt. The first girl to get out was tall. She had red and copper colored hair that was choppy and in a fringe. Next was a short girl, with short curly hair. It was blonde in the front, and brown throughout the rest of it. She was the only one wearing a skirt. Then there was a slightly taller girl. This one had blonde hair that had blue streaks laced through it. She was pale, and her dark clothes brought that out more. Finally, the last girl was medium height. She had long waved brown hair that faded into blue, complimenting her tanned skin. She wore shorts and jumped out laughing and singing with the others.

Tyler thought that if he wasn't swinging the other way, these girls would've been down his alley. He was more focused on the blue-haired boy that was now standing by him though. Josh gave the others a dirty look, and Hayley walked up with her arms crossed. 

"Look the trash is here," Hayley said in a rude tone. She definitely had something against these girls. The brunette with blue hair just laughed.

"That doesn't offend me because it's true Hayley," she smiled. The others walked over and crossed their arms. This seemed like a good old-fashioned stand-off. Tyler himself felt oddly scared at what would possible happen.

"Whatever. Why are you here anyways?" Josh said. He crossed his arms, looking more intimidating than he actually was. The girl with the copper hair scoffed.

"We're checking out the competition as always. Though I doubt we'll have any here. We haven't for the last couple of years." Hayley's eyes widened in anger and she moved to take a step forward before Brendon grabbed her arm and stopped her. She was almost the same shade as her bright red hair.

"I doubt we'll have an issue this year," Brendon smiled, "we have some new staff. Plus with Tyler helping in music we can't lose." He pointed to Tyler, causing everyone to turn to him. The brown haired girl's eyes widened and she turned slightly pink in the face.

"Tyler... Joseph?" she whispered. Tyler looked at her confused. "Holy shit we went to your high school!" her eyes lit up and she smiled. Tyler blinked. He remembered virtually no one from my high school. It was really a gigantic blur.

"Oh."

"Oh come on we worked on the art committee together!" It finally clicked in his head.

"Vanessa?" she nodded excitedly, "then we have Sami, Maya, and Shey?" the others all smiled happily. Vanessa ran to Tyler and threw her arms around his neck. She was always kinda giggly and huggy.

"Oh my god what happened to you? You dropped off the Earth after we graduated." She pulled back, laughing. It was nice to see someone he'd known for so long. She walked back to her friends, all whom where eyeing her oddly. Josh in this moment wrapped an arm around Tyler's shoulders, making him blush a bit. 

"Leave." Hayley said, her voice becoming stern.

"Well... maybe we don't want to!" The small girl named Maya questioned.

"Well... You're just rude then!" Gerard shouted back. He was literally the most innocent person ever.

"Yeah well your roots are showing!" She yelled, making Gerard gasp dramatically. She stopped and ran to him, "oh my god I'm so sorry I didn't mean it!" He nodded and she patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"Maya!" Sami yelled, "Let's go. There's nothing for us here."

They walked back to the car, the boy laughing the entire time. Vanessa turned and waved at Tyler, and he waved back smiling. He felt Josh's arm tighten around my shoulder, making his cheeks heat up slightly more. Why in the world was he getting all touchy all of the sudden? 

The moment the girls drove away, Josh turned to Tyler, pulling his arm away slowly. "So... you know them?" 

"Yeah. We were friends back in high school. I never got along with guys so I hung out with those girls. Then I graduated, met up with Jen again and met Brendon. I guess I forgot about my high school friends." Josh nodded, turning to walk away.

-

Brendon smiled to himself as he walked towards the nature center. He was using his time on break to go and see his favorite pyromaniac, Ryan. Over the past... well day, the two had become quiet infatuated. Still, Brendon loved the idea of getting to hang out with Ryan for a while.

The nature center was actually more of a hut than anything. There was no walls, and it was held up by beams. It was probably the best the camp could do. While they had plenty of money, it was harder to build a place for nature if you're stuck inside. There were tables though, and a few info maps on the camp lands, so overall it was better than nothing.

Brendon spotted Ryan when he turned the corner. The boy was wearing skinny jeans and a scarf despite the extremely hot weather at the moment. He was lecturing someone about something, or so Brendon assumed based on his current stance. His finger was pointed and he was obviously raising his voice. It was only as Brendon came closer that he actually heard what Ryan was being so passionate about.

"I don't care what you say Jennifer," Ryan said her name in a condescending tone, "Zayn had to leave One Direction. It was obviously what he felt he needed to do to be happy. His happiness comes before everything else ok? That's literally all that matters Jennifer!" Brendon scoffed as this Jennifer girl walked away from Ryan.

"And you don't think Zayn was being just a tad bit selfish?" Brendon asked, making Ryan turn to him with speeds that sonic would be jealous of (s/o if you understand that ref from Our Secret Place). "I mean, he obviously just wanted out for his own personal game. He didn't even wait until the end of his contract."

"Shut the fuck up about my child!" Ryan gasped. He refused to let anyone talk about his baby in such a manor, "He was obviously concerned for his own mental health. He doesn't deserve to be ridiculed about this!"

"Yeah ok whatever helps you sleep at night," Brendon smiled sweetly as he walked to one of the benches and sat down. A kid with pink hair came over, scratching his neck awkwardly.

"Hey Mr. Ross? Can uh... we're having slight bit of trouble starting the fire. Can we borrow your lighter?" Ryan took a seat, tossing the kid the lighter without a second thought.

"How dare you talk trash about my small son," Ryan said. He was acting as though this physically hurt him. Brendon smiled. "The only reason I'm letting this slide is because you're the cutest counselor we've had in a while." Ryan whispered. Brendon's smile grew even larger than before. 

-

To say that Tyler was confused was an understatement. After the exchange that morning, Josh had practically been blowing Tyler off. 

Tyler hadn't noticed it at first honestly. He remembered how Josh became quieter after the girls left, but he didn't notice the avoiding until just now. He'd been walking to the lunch hall for an afternoon snack when he crossed paths with Josh. The blue-haired boy didn't even bother to look up at Tyler when he passed by. In fact, he turned and started walking the other way.

While Tyler was left in a dazed and confused state, Josh was mentally tearing himself apart. This morning was weird for Josh. He'd never acted like that around anyone before. He wasn't even entirely sure what had come over him. He watched Vanessa hug Tyler, and for some reason he lost control. He felt something when that happened, something he'd never felt before. So yes, to say that Josh was almost as confused as Tyler was accurate.

So Josh turned away when he saw Tyler. Instead, he made a quick trip to the art department in hopes of finding Debby. She always seemed to know what to do in these confusing situations. 

When he did find her, Debby and that Jenna girl were laughing, flicking paint at each other. Josh hated to interrupt, but he desperately needed to speak with Debby. So he walked to her, tapping her shoulder. She turned in confusion.

"Josh?"

"Deb can I talk to you?" he asked, his brows furrowing. She gave a quick nod and apologized to Jenna before joining Josh on a small walk. 

"What's up Jishwa?" she asked, linking arms with him. He sighed, explaining to her the situation from this morning. When he finished she was silent for a moment before looking up at him. She had a gentle smile on her face, which scared Josh slightly. "Josh... do you think maybe you were jealous of Vanessa?"

"Not possible." He said quickly.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm Josh. I don't get jealous over things like that." He shrugged. It was true for him. Josh had never gotten jealous over anyone before. He appreciated his life enough to not get jealous.

"Oh come on. You didn't want her to hug him that much is obvious. He's attractive and you hit on him constantly..."

"I hit on everyone." Josh sighed.

"Just give it a chance." She smiled, and then they heard a mildly terrified scream. The two friends exchanged a quick glance before running to the direction of the scream. When they did arrive, there was a few kids crying and a few looking terrified. The nature center had a gigantic fire in the fire pit, which was starting to actually spread.

"God damn it Ryan."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the pain begins...

May 27, 2016

It'd been two days since Josh had talked to Tyler, and honestly it was starting to worry Tyler just a little bit. He was used to having the blue-haired boy send him winks and cheeky smiles anytime the two would pass each other. If he was being a hundred percent honest, Tyler was actually disappointed. Part of him was starting to enjoy having Josh around, but he just stopped talking to Tyler.

Brendon and Jenna seemed to notice the fact that Tyler was slowly becoming more and more disappointed as time went on. They chose to ignore it until that afternoon, when they pulled the group away at lunch. Gerard and Frank followed of course, because they'd practically joined the friendship group. And so all five of them went outside and walked to the place where they had the bon fire the first night. They sat down, and turned to Tyler with expectancy.

"Ok what's wrong?" Jenna asked first. Tyler understood why they dragged him away, as he had a tendency to get depressed. If something was wrong, they immediately tried to fix it. 

"Nothing." Tyler stated. He knew that nothing was wrong... or should be wrong. Yet, he still felt an upset feeling in his stomach every time an image of the blue-haired boy flashed through his mind. It was always like Tyler to get nervous over small things. Maybe Josh didn't have an issue with Tyler. Maybe he was... busy? No he definitely had something against Tyler at the moment.

"Ha! You're funny now talk." Brendon deadpanned. There was no way he was letting Tyler out of this one.

"You have been acting kind of... weird," Frank sighed, and Gerard nodded. Tyler inwardly sighed at them. They were no help at all. "I think even Rina is starting to notice you haven't been up beat... and she's a child."

"Seriously Ty." Jenna sighed.

"It's... it's not a big deal. Nothing that should concern you guys either. I'll be ok I promise." Tyler tried to fake his happiness, which Brendon saw through instantly.

"This is about Josh isn't it?" Tyler froze at the words. Or perhaps it was the name that was getting to him.

"No."

"You truly are a horrible liar," Gerard sighed. "Don't worry. I denied it when I first fell for Frank. Ask Mikey, I locked myself in my room for days and sat around." He cringed, reliving his teenage years in his head.

"I don't like Josh like that!" Tyler exclaimed all too quickly for it to not be obvious. At this the others smiled, and shared a knowing look with one another. Tyler knew in this moment that he fucked up.

"Ok so it's obvious that you do actually like Josh like that. Now what the hell has been going on between you guys?" Jenna asked. Tyler decided there was probably no point in fighting with his best friends at this point in time.

"I don't know!" Tyler threw his hands into the air and sighed. "One minute we're ok and the next everything is completely fucked up!" he pulled up his hands, coving his face with them. He didn't want it to be like this between him and Josh. He wanted them to get along just fine.

"Oh Tyler," Jenna sighed, hugging Tyler to her side.

-

Josh was absolutely feeling like a total and utter shit head. He knew very well that he'd been ignoring Tyler for some time now, and yet he'd done nothing to fix that. He knew that he was angering Jenna and Brendon based on the looks they gave him. He knew that he was acting this way, and yet he didn't stop himself.

Josh rally had Debby to blame for all of that. Ever since she'd stuck the idea that maybe he did like Tyler in his head, that's all that Josh had been able to think about lately, and truthfully, it was starting to bug him a lot.

Josh didn't get feelings for people. It was just simply something that he himself never did, and yet here he was, considering the fact that he may possibly find Tyler adorable. And perhaps Tyler was adorable. He was most certainly attractive to Josh, but then again, so were a lot of other people. But adorable? Josh had never really found anyone to be adorable before.

It was just this kind of thinking that brought Josh to the main camp office. He needed to talk to someone about his feelings, and so Josh figured who better to rant to than the king of all shitty relationships. Pete Wentz. Pete had been in a lot of crap relationships before. At one point, he had even dated Patrick, and while they decided to stay best friends instead, it was obvious that Patrick still had some sort of feelings for Pete. Josh had never chosen to actually bring this up to Pete before.

"Joshua Dun, my man." Pete stated as Josh finally opened the door to the office and decided to walk inside of it. 

"Hey Pete," Josh nodded to his slightly... very emo friend who never did grow out of "that stage". Pete was actually a bit like an over grown emo baby if Josh was being 100% honest.

"Ok what's wrong?" Pete asked, walking towards Josh. He nodded his head towards the door, signaling the two went on a walk and talk.

"How come you can tell something is wrong that easily?" Josh asked in astonishment. Pete was actually horrible at reading any form of human emotions.

"Magic... and the fact that Deb may have called me this morning and told me something was up with you." Pete smiled.

"It's Tyler..."

-

To be perfectly honest here, the least problematic of anyone at the camp at the moment when it came to relationships was Ryan and Brendon, and that was actually saying a lot for the people at this camp. Ryan and Brendon actually got along quite well compared to just about everyone else at this place. 

Honestly, just about everyone in this camp was practically a flaming homosexual, and it wasn't surprising that those two expert homos were actually the winning relationship in this camp so far. But that would probably last for a while right? I mean, it's not like this is a fanfiction where everything is bound to go horribly wrong at some point in time right?

So after that talk with Tyler, Brendon found himself once more wondering over to Ryan's Nature Center to talk to him. And Brendon figured that he may one day ask Ryan out, because Ryan was a cute little milk-drinking boy that Brendon found himself thinking about a little too often.

Ryan himself even found that he thought about Brendon a bit too often too, which scared him quite a bit. And Ryan was maybe just a tad bit freaked out that he was maybe falling for Brendon just a little bit because Ryan had never really been in a relationship like that with anyone before. It was all a bit new, and while it was extremely exciting, Ryan was terrified about wat the future held for them.

"Hey."

And it was that very voice that made all those worries melt away from Ryan's mind, because even though he was scared, Ryan felt safe when Brendon was around him, and that wasn't something he got to say very often.

"Hey," Ryan smiled, turning to face the beautiful boy with the oddly overgrown forehead that was honestly starting to look more like a fivehead the longer that Ryan stared at it.

"What yah up to?" Brendon smiled, walking with Ryan towards the bench that was sat next to the camp map, because from here, Brendon could look at Ryan sitting in front, and Brendon figured that Ryan actually looked quite attractive next to the sparkling water... not that he wasn't already.

"Well... I'd say I'm talking to this attractive guy with an oddly big forehead," Ryan laughed as Brendon gave him a friendly shove. 

"Shut up, it's not that big."

-

"Tyler?" The doors to the music hall were pushed open, forcing both Tyler and Frank to look up from their work. The doors flew open, on the last class of the day, revealing a blue-haired boy. 

"Josh?" Tyler was confused to say the least. It wasn't every day that attractive guys came barging into your work area asking to see you, so Tyler was confused... but he was also intrigued. "What is it?"

"I need to talk to you. Now please." Josh said, walking into the building, and letting the doors close behind him. Josh was on a mission. He'd been doing an awful lot of thinking lately, and he knew what he needed to do, or rather how he would take the first step to doing this thing that was needed.

"Josh I'm working I ca-"

"Go Tyler," the two boys turned to see Frank, a small smirk on his lips as he looked between Tyler and Josh. "I can handle everything around here. Just go with Josh for now, ok?"

"Please." Josh asked. Tyler finally caved, not being able to say no to Josh's brown eyes that watched him so intently. Tyler sat down his piano sheets and walked out of the building, following close behind Josh. The two walked towards the lake, walking in silence. Neither one of them knew exactly what to say to the other.

"Josh what'd you need me for anyways?" Tyler finally asked.

"Tyler I'm... I'm sorry. I've being treating you like complete trash lately and I wanted to let you know that I'm not meaning to. There's just been something on my mind lately. I... I don't know how to handle it exactly, so I'm just a little lost on what to do." Josh explained, awkwardly tucking his hands into his pockets. Tyler knew this trick all too well. It was often a technique that he noticed himself when he was being awkward or his anxiety was acting up.

"What's been on your mind?" Tyler asked, looking into Josh's brown orbs of eyes.

"I... I'm afraid I can't tell you that Ty."

"Why not?"

"Because it's going to freak you out."

"Tell. Me." Tyler looked at him, putting on his best brave face. He would be able to handle whatever Josh threw at him. He'd heard it all before, and honestly nothing would be new.

"I can't tell you. I'm not good with words... I'd have to show you..." Josh sighed, looking away with sadness, "I can't do that."

"Do it." 

"Tyler no."

"Do it Josh. It's gonna be ok, I wouldn't care if you told me you were a mass murderer."

"No"

"Josh ju-"

And so Josh showed him. Josh turned, leaning in to kiss Tyler. He'd figured out that he felt something about the brunette boy, he just wasn't 100% sure what yet. But before Tyler could kiss back, Josh was being pushed away.

And Tyler's face showed that something was entirely too wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

May 28, 2015

Tyler was freaking out on possibly every level. He felt like he was drowning. He felt himself sink further and further down into the dark blue of the water. He could feel the air slowly leaving his lungs in painful gasps.

He was having a panic attack.

He sat down on the log on the edge of the forest, and tried to steady his breathing to no avail. The world he thought he knew just crashed down. He'd built up so many walls to prevent things like this from ever happening again. He couldn't stand being hurt like he was before. And still, Josh was the first person to attempt to pull those walls down. And maybe a small part of it had succeed. 

That's what truly scared Tyler. The thought that someone, anyone other than a friend would try to break down those walls. Though, Tyler was also scared by the fact that a small part of him wanted someone to break down those walls. He'd been so destroyed before, and he almost allowed it to happen again all because of some pretty boy with blue hair... and dazzling brown eyes... and soft skin... and Tyler was so utterly screwed. He was completely sunken by a boy whom he'd known only a short time.

Now as Tyler attempted to shove the thoughts of the beautiful boy from his head, he was tearing his mind apart, trying to figure out what to do. None of this made sense to him, and every bit of it felt like a stab to his heart.

Shakily, he brought his fingertips to his lips and touched them lightly, and then the tears came. He couldn't control them any longer.

"Tyler?" There was a drowned out voice. Female from what Tyler could tell... then again it could very well be Ryan. Tyler wasn't even sure how old Ryan was. Certainly not that old by the looks of it. Was he even out of highsch-

"It's him." Another voice. Tyler tried to focus in on them and figure out who it was but his heart was beating so fast and his breath was coming in gasps. Tyler was sure it had started raining but everything was a blur.

"Tyler," the girl, "you're having a panic attack. I need you to focus on my voice. Breathe ok? In and out Tyler."

"Should I go and get help?" A third voice filled Tyler's head.

"Go get a blanket and water." The second voice said.

"Tyler babe, its Hayley. I'm with Patrick and Pete. Everything is gonna be ok. Just focus on my voice.

Everything is going to be ok."

-

Tyler was extremely confused when he woke up. The last thing he remembered was Hayley talking to him. Then a blur of nothingness. 

He woke up in his bed though. No one else was around, even though it sounded like it was late evening or night time. How long had he been out?

He stood up, wrapping the blanket that was on him around his shoulders. From there he set of to the outside. He could feel the moisture in the air, so he knew it had rained earlier. Finally as the wooden camp door was pushed open with a creek, he heard the voices of the others. It sounded like they were all by the campfire, which was something Tyler believed sounded nice at the moment. 

He would hear the crickets chirping and the fire popping behind the dulled voices of the campfire. There was however one thing that Tyler noticed, and that was the sweet sound of an acoustic guitar being played. He looked and noticed Frank strumming it. Then the voices of three people kicked in. 

It was a soft melody, but it was one Tyler didn't really recognize. As the voices who were singing were Hayley, Brendon, and Patrick, Tyler guessed it was one they wrote together.

"Think of me when you're out, when you're out there. I'll beg you nice from my knees. And when the world treats you way too fairly, it's a shame I'm a dream. .. All I wanted was youuu." The three sang softly in unison. Tyler smiled. 

He was still at a distance, and in the dark woods, he knew the others couldn't see him, but he could see them due to the fire. Some of the campers who stayed awake were sitting on the logs. Megan and the other two girls were scribbling something frantically in a notebook. Debby had her head of Jenna's shoulder, and Gerard was staring fondly at Frank. Pete and Mikey were chatting, which Tyler noticed was gaining a few looks from Patrick. Ray was nowhere to be seen, and Brendon was playing with Ryan's hand as he sang. Then Tyler's eyes landed on Josh.

Josh was lightly drumming his hands to the log he was sat on, but he didn't look fully there. He looked distracted, and his eyebrows were furrowed together in what looked like worry. And something told Tyler it was completely his fault that Josh felt like that.

So Tyler decided to walk over to the group. Josh looked up, his eyes widening as Tyler chose to take the seat by Jenna. She also looked at Tyler, but her look was laced with confusion. Something was wrong and she knew it.

"Tyler what's wrong?" She asked quietly, knowing that no one would hear except maybe Debby, but that wasn't an issue.

"Nothing." Tyler whispered back, wrapping the blanket around him tighter. He knew that was a lie. Hell, even Megan could probably tell something was wrong as she was staring quiet intensely at him at the moment.

"You're lying." She whispered. Tyler frowned, hating the fact that she knew him so well. 

"We had a fight." Tyler mumbled, pulling his blanket to his mouth.

"You guys just made up though?" Jenna asked. Because it's not like drama exists. This isn't like this is a fic or anything.

"Yeah well, Josh decided to get a little too friendly." Tyler said more defensively. Jenna immediately frowned.

"He didn't hurt you did he? Is that why you got a panic attack?" 

"Yes. I mean no. I mean... he didn't hurt me. He kissed me. That's why I had a panic attack." Jenna stopped worrying at this point and rather became more confused than anything.

"Tyler come with me." She whispered something to Debby who nodded and stopped leaning on her. From there Jenna stood up and grabbed Tyler's hand. She helped him up and the two started walking to the docks. "Ok what the hell Tyler?" She said once they were out of earshot.

Tyler jumped at the force in her voice.

"What?" he mumbled.

"I thought you liked Josh?!" She asked.

"I do. And I hate that I do because I can't seem to get him out of my head and it's driving me crazy at the moment."

"So why the hell are you and him not talking? That's a good thing he kissed you. You're supposed to get into a cute relationship now that makes the rest of us utterly disgusted, including Brendon and Ryan because right now those two gay shits have everyone beat." Jenna sighed, sitting down on the edge of the deck.

"Jenna," Tyler sighed, "you know it's not that easy for me. I can't just be with someone. It's not easy after what he did. I don't feel the same way about love. I can't like I because it terrifies me. It scares me to no end. I find myself being afraid of what everyone in this world wants the most and that's love Jenna."

"Tyler. That boy took a huge leap kissing you. That takes guts. And you know very well that if you don't take a leap, you're not going to ever fall. Not every person will do what he did ok?"

Maybe Jenna had a point. Maybe there was a reason Josh wouldn't leave Tyler's head.

"ok."

"Good, now go and sleep then get your man."

-

The moment Tyler woke up, his gut twisted in anxiety. He'd been tossing and turning half of the night thinking about what Jenna had said to him the night before and he decided she was right. He did like Josh, and he was determined to actually take the leap.

He got out of bed with determination and noticed everyone was still asleep expect Josh. He was probably out going for a morning swim. So Tyler stood up and put on his nicest shirt and jeans (because even though it was summer, he still had a punk aesthetic), and headed out.

He was correct when he found Josh standing by a tree, facing the lake. He was drying off his hair with a towel, and Tyler felt his heart skip a beat. Still, Tyler marched right up to him and tapped his shoulder. Josh turned around in surprise.

"Tyler look I'm really sorry I shouldn't hav-"

"Joshua be quiet. Look I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you away. I like you. I really, really like you and I know I was stupid to think that pushing you away was a good idea but it seemed like that at the time."

"Ok." Josh nodded, obviously trying to keep up with Tyler who was talking extremely fast.

"Now there's something you should know ok? The reason I pushed you away was because it reminded me of someone. I trusted someone a few years ago and they messed me up pretty badly Josh. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm absolutely terrified to fall for someone again because of that, but you know what? You came here with you're stupid smirk and brown eyes and nice body and you fucked me up Josh. You made me fall for someone when I promised myself that I wouldn't do that again."

Josh smiled a little. "What are you saying Tyler?"

Tyler took a breath. 

"I hate you."

And then Tyler was kissing Josh, and he allowed the first defense of walls be completely destroyed. And Tyler didn't care. Because even as Josh pushed him against a tree and Tyler's arms wrapped around Josh's neck, Tyler was happy to take the fall.


	8. Chapter 8

May 30, 2015

Tyler was living on a sort of life high when Saturday finally rolled around. He and Josh were keeping things on the low for now, still deciding what they were doing. Still, Tyler was ok with the flutter in his chest every time he and Josh would "accidentally" brush up against each other. They all knew it was on purpose and they both enjoyed every second of it. 

As much as he believed he would never say it, Tyler was falling for Josh. Fast.

He believed Josh felt the same way, but there was something that flashed through Josh's eyes every time they touched. It was something Tyler couldn't quite name, but he chose to ignore it while he could.

"Ok fuckers." Pete spoke up, a clipboard in his hands. They were in the staff lodge, which was actually very spacious. "Kids finally go home this weekend which means free time for the people that are sacrificing their summe-"

"What happened to the 'this is the best place ever' attitude?" Ryan laughed. 

"You know what Ryan? I almost got shot with an arrow today, helped a sick kid yesterday, and had to put out the fire you started. Don't get me started on where that attitude went." Pete narrowed his eyes, earning snickers from Mikey, Patrick, and Ryan. Patrick and Mikey made eye contact and automatically Tyler knew something was up. There was serious tension between the two of them. 

Tyler turned to Josh who was sitting to his side and whispered in his ear, "What's the deal with those two." And he motioned to Patrick and Mikey. 

Josh chuckled, hesitating a second before he moved closer to Tyler. "You know how Patrick and Pete are together? Well it didn't always use to be that way. Pete and Mikey used to be the emo power couple around here. They had a falling out, Gee came down to support Mikey, but met Frank and stayed. That's when Patrick showed up. I don't think Mikey ever actually moved on though."

"What makes you say that?" Tyler whispered, trying to lean into Josh without anyone noticing. 

"Look at the way Mikey looks at Pete." Josh mumbled. Tyler looked and saw exactly what Josh meant. Mikey was looking at Pete with assort of longing in his eyes. They were sad though, the kind of look you'd have if you love someone you couldn't have. Almost like he knew he had mistakenly let Pete go.

"Problem?" Pete was looking at Tyler and Josh who jumped apart almost as if on cue. From the corner Tyler noticed Jenna whisper something to Debby and the two broke into a hushed set of giggles which made Tyler roll his eyes. 

"No problem." Josh smiled a cocky smile at Pete.

"Then would you two stop making googly eyes? Save that for the hotel." Pete sighed but Tyler looked up.

"What hotel?"

"Well if you two had been listening you would have heard that you two, Hayley, Ryan, and Brendon are in charge of taking the kids up to the town nearby. You all get to stay at the hotel tonight. Please try to listen to something I say." Pete sighed, and repeated the act when Hayley mumbled to him.

"Actually I can't. I'm working on the paperwork for all the stuff Ryan managed to burn down. Someone is gonna have to go instead of me." She said sadly. Hayley was someone that enjoyed the children with all her heart. She hated when they left or she couldn't do an activity with them.

"I'll go!" Patrick beamed, him being a lot like Hayley with the kids. "I got all the expenses recorded earlier." Pete nodded and wrote something on his clip board sheet. Hayley mouthed a thank you to Patrick and he nodded happily. 

"Ok so that's about everything settled. You leave in an hour." Pete clapped his hands together and the room started to disperse. Gerard and Frank were giggling about something, Gerard gripping the sides of Frank's hips as they walked away. Tyler couldn't help but feel envious because of how they were so open with their relationship.

"Tyler," Tyler jumped, not noticing the fact that Jenna seemed to come from nowhere, "So... you and Josh at the hotel huh?" She giggled. Tyler's face turned a darker red shade as she spoke.

"Jen," Tyler smacked her arm lightly and she giggled as Josh appeared by Tyler's side as well.

"Hey Josh," Jenna smiled sweetly, "I was just telling Tyler to have fun tonight."

"Trust me, I'm sure Tyler will be having plenty of fun." Josh smirked, making Tyler's face turn a flame color. Jenna's smile lit up like crazy and she sent Tyler a cheeky wink before turning back to Debby.

-

"Hey, wakey wakey sleepy head we're almost there," Brendon whispered to Ryan who had fallen asleep on his shoulder. The younger's light brown hair hung in his face and his eyes were open slightly. "Ryro it's time to wake up now." Brendon laughed. Directly behind him Megan and the two other girls watched intently. Ryan stirred, tucking his head into Brendon's shoulder which made the girls squeal and flail. 

"No." Ryan mumbled some, making Brendon smile.

"Get up darling. We can go up to the room and cuddle."

At that Ryan perked up and smiled. "Promise?"

"Of course babe." Brendon kissed his forehead.

-

The shorter one turned, his back being pinned up against the wall of the cabin room. The taller attacked their neck with kisses, a sense of euphoria rushing through them both. They'd needed this moment for so long, and yet it seemed like this would never happen.

"Jesus," the taller moaned as the shorter gave a breathy pant. 

"Bed. Now." The shorter commanded, walking them both to the bed of the cabin. The shorter fell onto the bed, the taller following closely behind. 

"I love you," the taller whispered to the boy below him. The smaller boy looked up and smiled sadly.

"I love you too Mikey."

-

"So this is it?" Megan cringed at they walked into the overall quite bland hotel. She dropped her bag and stopped to the side of Brendon who was trying to hold up a sleeping Ryan on his shoulder. 

"Yes Megan." Patrick laughed. He'd been in a great mood all day, but Tyler figured that had something to do with the fact that Pete and him were thinking of moving in together. He was crazy about the idea, and it had him giddy as he walked around. 

"Do they have wifi at least?" one of her friends sighed as she adjusted the bag on ther shoulder.

"Yep." Josh smiled down as his own phone connected to it. This was really more of a temporary distraction until he would be able to get to his and Tyler's room. The girls however were satisfied.

"Time to get on tumblr!" One cheered but the other roller her eyes.

"No I need you to vote for my story on Wattpad, I'm thirsty af for comments and votes." She smiled down at her phone as the first girl agreed. 

"Ok well me and Ty are gonna head up to our room now, thanks." Josh said, grabbing Tyler's hand as he started to pull him towards the stairs. The girls' faces lit up as Tyler's face turned a dark shade of red. 

The two walked up the room, and Tyler could feel his heart beating out of his chest. The moment the door closed behind him, Tyler was being pressed up against it, Josh's lips already on his own. Almost like a reflex, Tyler dropped his bag and tangled his hands into Josh's bright blue hair. 

The two walked to the bed and Tyler smirked before lightly pushing Josh backwards onto it. The blue-haired boy smirked, raising and eyebrow at the boy who stood above him. Still the boy chose to ignore it, stepping his knee onto the side of Josh so he could crawl onto the bed and hover above him. 

With a leg settled on each end of Josh's hips, Tyler lowered himself down slowly in order to kiss Josh's neck. The older boy let out a breathy moan at the touch and Tyler almost melted at the sound.

Josh's hands had settled on Tyler's hips, slowly moving his shirt away from the hem of his skinny jeans. Tyler's heart was beating like crazy and he felt like this moment was long overdue.

"Ty," Josh breathed into Tyler's ear, "we're doing this."

-

Tyler collapsed onto Josh's chest, both of them breathing in a hard steady pace. Despite the fact that Josh's ass was killing him, he was smiling like crazy. Tyler looked up at him through a few overgrown locks of moist hair. Josh couldn't help but smile at the sight in front of him. 

Josh was completely...

Utterly..

Falling for Tyler Joseph.


	9. Chapter 9

May 31, 2015

The first thing Mikey did when he woke up was roll over and regret everything that happened the night before. He sat staring at the sunlight coming through the cabin blinds, the cabin that belonged to him and Ray. Ray however hadn’t come home last night which was definitely for the best. Not that Mikey cared where the poofy haired boy had run off too, but if Ray had caught them, the situation would have gotten worse.

What is this horrible situation and who does it involve may be asked here, but the answer was simple and came in the form of a name. Pete Wentz. The previously emo fuckboy was laying asleep next to Mikey and it was putting a pit in Mikey’s stomach. Last night shouldn’t have happened.

The two had met years ago, high school in fact. Pete was friends with Gerard and the younger of the brother quickly fell for the boy with black hair and a little too much guyliner. I wasn’t until they both started working here that everything fell apart. That would be due to a sweet boy by the name of Patrick Stump who stole Pete’s emo heart.

Still Mikey knew that after all this time, what they just did was in no way the right thing to do. And it seemed Pete had the same idea as when he started to wake up, he turned to Mikey and whispered a simple ‘fuck’. That one word basically summed up the entire situation.

“Unfortunately it seems we already have,” Mikey grumbled, sitting up. The clock to his side told him that they’d overslept, which would have been more of a problem if the two gays and the fedorable man hadn’t taken the kids into town for the weekend.

“Oh shut it,” Pete also grumbled, pushing the blankets off himself. His clothes were in a heap in the corner of the room, meaning the blanket was definitely shielding Mikey’s eyes right now.

“That was… that shouldn’t have happened.” Mikey said firmly, rubbing his eyes.

“I know.” Pete mumbled, slipping off the bed and pulling on some clothes. It was then at the precise moment that Pete fully dressed that Ray entered the cabin, obviously shocked to see the two boys talking for once.

“Pete?” Ray asked. Pete firmly turned to Mikey and spoke as if they were already having a conversation.

“Ok so like I was saying before, try to add more fruits into the meals at lunch for the kids. It’s much healthier for them ok?” Mikey nodded once and then Pete was ducking out of the cabin and towards his own. Ray however was not stupid and the moment the door closed behind Pete, he turned to Mikey with wide eyes.

“You two didn’t,” Ray said a bit too loudly.

“Shut up shut up,” Mikey whispered quickly. “I didn’t mean to. It just happened I guess.” He sighed.

“Oh so what? Pete tripped and suddenly was half was up you as-“

“Ray!” Mikey’s face was suddenly turning a bright red. Ray held up his hands defensively

“Just saying.”

“What about you huh?” Mikey suddenly threw back at the big haired boy. Ray turned to him in a slight surprise. “Where have you been sneaking off to lately? I’ve noticed you walk off and don’t come back until morning.”

“I… don’t know what you’re talking about…” Ray was shuffling away now and was edging towards the exit of the cabin. Mikey jumped up to follow him, but all too late realized he was naked and in a hurry to grab something to cover himself, tripped and face-planted, scarring Ray in the process.

Ray let out a surprised yet mortified scream and Mikey wormed his way to a pile of clothes and slid them on while Ray covered his eyes.

“Jesus forgive me I’ve seen hell!” Ray screamed, reaching for the door while he continued to cover his eyes. He finally found the handle and twisted it, running from the building. Mikey was following close behind.

“Ray stop!” Mikey was screaming. The two turned a corner and ran into someone. They looked up to see the members of Camp INTN standing there in shock.

“Uh….” Maya said awkwardly. “You two ok?” Ray frantically shook his head, running off pass them. Mikey looked between them all before running after him, leaving the four girls in shock.

“Ok so I’m not the only one that found that odd right?” Vanessa asked, followed by a row of ‘no’s. The group continued walking, looking around the camp. They all laughed as there was absolutely nothing set up for the music or art department in the games yet. Surely camp INTN had this one in the bag.

“Oh hell no I can smell them!” Shrieking was coming from a few cabins down and suddenly Hayley burst out of the cabin followed by Frank and Gerard. “See!” She was pointing frantically at the four girls.

“Hey lil red,” Sami laughed, the group walking towards Hayley. She turned a nasty color of mad and stormed towards them.

“Who let the trash onto my camp grounds?”

“Is your ass jealous of all the shit that comes from your mouth?” Sami raised her eyes as Hayley gasped in offense to the comment. Finally Hayley smirked.

“Did your brain hurt itself from that one? You know, seeing as you usually never use it.”

“Please. I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and shit out a smarter comeback,” Sami said coolly, making Gerard and Frank gasp.

“Oh my god she went there,” Frank whispered under his breath, “this better not turn into a fight, that’d be an issue.”

“Oh come on, the only issue here is her face,” Hayley said just loud enough for the girls to hear. “Why are you here anyways?”

“You mean other than to apologize to the tree that’s been providing you oxygen?” Sami smiled, “We’re here to look for your set up for the games. Obviously there’s not much here though.”

“Oh the bitch didn’t” Gee said.

“Yeah we did!” Maya beamed happily. “By the way I love your hair! Did you dye it agai-“

“Maya.” Vanessa tried not to laugh at how kind Maya was.

“Sorry,” the smaller girl giggled.

“Get out of here.” Hayley groaned, “I have actual work to do here.”

“Oh my god, you mean you’re finally turning this dump into an actual camp?” Sami gasped. “Anyways we have actual talent to prepare for the games anyways. Later losers.” She turned to walk away, Maya following being after she waved happily at Gerard.

-

“Morning sleepy head,” Josh smiled down at Tyler who had fallen asleep across his chest. The brown haired boy looked up through tired eyes and smiled sleepily. Josh couldn’t help but chuckle at the odd ways Tyler’s hair was sticking up, but then again that was probably to be expected.

“Wht’s s funy?” Tyler half mumbled into Josh’s chest.

“Nothing love,” Josh whispered, running a few finger through Tyler’s hair which owned a happy sigh from the sleepy boy.

“I don won get up” Tyler whispered.

“Come on I need to shower.” Josh laughed. At this Tyler looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Ok we need to shower.”

“That’s more like it,” Tyler said kissing Josh happily.

-

Ray had finally escaped Mikey a while back and decided he knew where to go. He ran over to his car and got in, pulling out. The drive wasn’t long to Camp INTN, and it got easier every time. He’d been out here a lot recently, and he knew Hayley would kill him if she ever found out.

She had it out for the neighboring camp, and she had ever since they lost the games. She was the most competitive person Ray had ever met, and he’d been friends with Gerard for a long time now.

Still, Ray knew he wasn’t here for the camp itself. He was here for the girl that worked at the camp. She had stolen his heart at the games last year during the art department. The only other people that knew about them were the other art workers at Camp INTN, Kellin and Vic. They had found out after they saw Ray climbing out her cabin window one morning. Ray didn’t have to worry though, they were pretty chill.

Ray wasn’t even bother by them as he walked into the cabin they were all sat in. They all looked up in surprise as Ray had never visited in the daylight.

“Sup amigo.” Vic laughed and Ray sent him a teasing look.

“I’ve told you before. It’s still weird, even if I’m Cuban.” Ray laughed, making the others laugh except for the girl with bright eyes.

“Honey what’s wrong?” She asked worryingly. Ray walked over and sat next to her on the couch. She immediately cuddled into his side.

“Mikey is onto us. He noticed I’ve been sneaking out all the time and only coming back when it’s early morning.” Ray sighed.

“Oh shit….. no Bueno.” Vic tried to stifle a laugh, but with a giggle from his boyfriend, the two burst out laughing.

The girl tucked to Ray’s side sent them a dirty look and the two automatically stopped laughing. She then turned to Ray “I’m sure it’s gonna be ok sunshine.” She frowned.

“Oh my god. You’re her ray of sunshine.” Kellin laughed, making Vic crack up more.

“Would you too sush,” She frowned. “It’ll be ok.” And for once Ray smiled

“I love you Melanie,” he smiled.

“I love you too Ray.”


	10. Chapter 10

June 11, 2015

“Happy Birthday,” Tyler smiled down at the boy below him. Josh giggled, rolling further into his bed sheets before mumbling something. Tyler raised an eyebrow, making Josh mumble ‘get off’ a little louder. Shaking his head with a giggle, Tyler leaned down and started kissing Josh’s cheek, making the older boy cringe and laugh.  
“Ty you’re heavy.” Josh looked up finally, his hands setting themselves upon Tyler’s hips.  
“Joshua Dun are you calling me fat?” Tyler raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend who only smiled at him.  
“You’re not fat. But you do have a little chub and that’s ok. I love your chub. It makes it better when I hug you and kiss your tub.” Josh smiled, watching as Tyler’s face turned a deep red color. He grabbed Josh’s hands and intertwined his own with them. Josh leaned up some, meeting Tyler half way to kiss him lightly. Tyler rested his forehead on Josh’s making the older boy look up and smile at how he got so lucky.   
“Can’t we just lay here?” Josh asked quietly.  
“I’m afraid not,” Tyler sighed, “me and Hayley have been planning shit for today for a while now. You have to get up and move.” Josh pouted and Tyler kissed him once more, making the pout leave as fast as it appeared. Josh instead leaned up, grabbing the back of Tyler’s head to kiss him once more. Tyler giggled, Josh rolling them both over so they were lying face to face.   
“Maybe just a little while longer,” Tyler smiled, pushing a tuff of hair out of Josh’s morning lit face.

-

Mikey was tearing himself apart every time he looked at them. His heart felt duller every time Pete held Patrick’s hand. His eyes watered every time he watched Patrick smile adoringly every time he looked at Pete. Most of all though, Mikey’s heart shattered a little more every time Pete would sneak a glance in his direction.   
Eventually Mikey ripped off his gloves that he wore for lunch and stalked off to the back of the lunch hall where no one could see him. He wasn’t even sure anyone noticed but Ray. The two had always been best friends. Ray knew that Mikey wasn’t happy at the moment. How could he be? His heart was being torn apart by someone that didn’t even care that he was in pain.   
So Mikey walked off to the back where he sat on a closed crate and proceeded to finally let his emotions out. A weak sob that he was trying so hard to hold back fell from his lips, strained and broken sounding. Ray followed him to the back, sitting down by Mikey.  
“He’s not worth it.” Ray said sadly as he lightly rubbed Mikey’s back. Mikey just started to cry harder at that, his hands in fists that clenched his lose sweat pants because he felt to hurt to actually put effort into getting dressed. He didn’t even want to get out of bed but Ray pointed out that Gerard would see something is wrong if he didn’t. You see, when Mikey and Pete broke up the first time, he was wreck. He had gotten depressed and had to be on meds for a while. It wasn’t until earlier this year that he had started to become his old self once more. That was until last week’s incident with Pete.  
“I don’t care.” Mikey replied in a hushed tone. “I don’t care that he’s not worth it. Because I can’t get him out of my head.” He whispered violently.   
“I promise it’s gonna get better. You’re gonna find someone one day Mikey and you two are going to be so happy and you’re gonna make me your best man even though it’ll piss off Gerard and I’m going to give the best damn speech you’ve ever heard.” Ray smiled, making Mikey laugh a little.   
“I don’t know about love anymore.” Mikey whispered quietly and at that exact moment the door opened. Gerard was holding a package with a bow on top, smiling with Frank before his eyes landed on Mikey’s shaking figure.  
“Mikes?” Gerard handed Frank the package and ran to his brother’s side. “What happened MikeyWay?” Mikey shook his head, not wanting to upset Gerard any more than he already was.  
“Gerard don’t do anything stupid,” Frank had rushed to his boyfriend’s side.   
“Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.” Gerard grabbed Mikey’s shoulders, making his only cry harder. Gerard stood up.  
“I’m gonna fucking kill him.”   
“Geebear don’t,” Frank was trying to stop Gerard who had already started heading towards the exit. Gerard shrugged him off though and started outside. Pete and Patrick were sitting at a table when Pete noticed how angry Gerard was. The shorter boy quickly stood up and started to move backwards but was too slow.   
A fist collided with the side of Pete’s face, sending him to the ground. Gerard walked towards him and grabbed his shirt, pulling him up some.  
“What the hell did you do?” Pete narrowed his eyes in sudden anger.  
“I didn’t do shit,” he whispered, not too loud as Patrick may hear him, “but your slut of a brother was all too willing to get on his knees for me.” Gerard’s eyes might as well have held the fire from the darkest pits of hell.   
“Talk about him like that one more time Peter and I won’t hesitate to cut your fucking balls up and shove them so far up your ass that you’ll polish them with your tooth brush.” With that Gerard dropped Pete and turned to walk away.   
“What did he just say?” Now Patrick was standing over him, his eyes wide with hurt and fear. “Pete what did you do?”  
“Patrick. It’s nothing love.”   
“Don’t give me that bull shit.” Patrick whispered, his eyes watering, “Its Mikey isn’t it? I see the way you and him look at each other. You know what? Go be with your toy.” Patrick reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, throwing it in Pete’s face.  
“And you know what? I was saving that but it seems as if I won’t be needing it much longer.” 

-

“How much further?” Josh laughed, clutching on to Tyler’s hands which were around his eyes. Tyler was leading him to a sort of birthday dinner at the moment.   
“I promise it’s not that much further hun.”  
“Ty…”  
“Josh… ok open.” Josh opened his eyes to see a beautiful picnic laying in front of him by the lake. He smiled and turned to Tyler.  
“I love you.”  
They had said it to each other a lot more since the first time now. It never failed to make Tyler blush like crazy though.  
“I love you too.”  
“So foo-“  
“Tyler?” Tyler’s walkie-talkie had gone off, making them both jump a little. It was used by all staff who decided to leave their work stations for some reason. “You may wonna head back to the main cabin.”   
Josh gave Tyler a weird look. Tyler shrugged in reply and grabbed the device.  
“uhhh… why?”  
“Look you may not want to hear this, but he won’t leave Tyler. He’s demanding to speak to you.”  
“Who?”  
“Tyler your ex is here.”


	11. Chapter 11

June 11, 2015

Tyler felt his heart race as he and Josh made their way to the main cabin of the camp. The early birthday lunch had been cut short and Tyler could tell that Josh himself was very uncomfortable already. Tyler didn’t want Josh to be uncomfortable. He didn’t want to see his ex, the man who’d done him so much wrong, either. There were two people who knew what he did to Tyler. Brendon and Jenna had been there ever since the start of the toxic relationship.

“Guys?” Tyler picked up his walkie-talkie. He knew they’d probably already heard the message from Hayley.

“We’re already on our way,” Jenna said immediately back to Tyler, “There’s no way he can stay here. I’ll personally beat him if he does.” Jenna huffed. She’d always hated Tyler’s ex. He wasn’t a good man, and he’d hurt Tyler in more ways than one.

Still, Tyler thought even having Josh next to him would help, but he was oh so very wrong as he could feel the anxiety the moment he neared the large cabin. They paused, just as they reached the door. Josh looked at Tyler and Tyler returned the scared look before he pushed open the door with a creak.

And there he was. Tyler felt every memory he’d ever tried to push away, rise up to the surface. He was turned around but Tyler took one look at his dark hair, and he knew that it was him. When he turned, Tyler felt Josh grab his hand but that didn’t stop the anger that flew through him.

“Ty,” The man smiled, and Tyler dropped Josh’s hand, walking towards the man he once loved with all his heart. He then proceeded to slap him across the cheek, stunning the room into silence. Hayley and Patrick, who were behind the counter watched with wide eyes, and Patrick felt a wave of familiarity run through him from the events earlier that morning with Pete and Mikey.

The man however just looked up as Josh came to stand next to Tyler. Josh was beaming quite obviously at Tyler’s bravery, and this man looked stunned. He took one look at Tyler’s and Josh’s intertwined hands, and went a little paler than he previously was.

It was at this moment that the door opened again. Jenna, Debby, and Brendon came through the door, only for Jenna to storm towards the man and follow up Tyler’s actions by also slapping the man. At this he raised his head and gave a charming smile, one that even Josh wanted to slap him for.

“Jenna, always a pleasure to see you,” He smiled, and she slapped him again. He looked up, still smiling and looked to Brendon, “You as well.”

“Can’t say that I feel the same Gabe.” Brendon sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. That name had haunted Tyler for years now, and it seemed he still wasn’t over it. This was the man who’d stolen his heart in college, and then broke it and Tyler multiple times.

Gabe shrugged though, not feeling anything for what he did. He never felt anything when he hurt Tyler. There were never any apologizes, even when Tyler wore the scars he caused. Tyler was the one that always apologized, always blaming himself for whatever went wrong between them. Jenna later pointed out that is wasn’t Tyler’s fault. He’d always let people trump over him, but he’d always had people such as Jenna, Brendon, and Vanessa (in high school at least) to point out that he was doing so.

“Why are you even here?” Tyler felt himself speak up, closing his eyes to find his voice. At this Gabe stopped smiling sarcastically, and instead gave an actual genuine smile. He looked into Tyler’s eyes, and Tyler forced himself to look away and squeeze Josh’s hand for reassurance.

“That my dear Tyler is the real question isn’t it?” he smirked, “Your dad sent me. He worries about you and your mother you know. Always has. He couldn’t fly here though as he has a job, and so he got into contact with me. It seems that someone forgot to tell them that we broke up. Of course, I’m not one to break your parents’ hearts so I agreed to come stay with you until August.”

“Oh hell no.” Jenna said, going to swing at Gabe again, and Brendon grabbed her arm. Brendon was against violence. Always had been.

“So here I am Ty. I figured we could maybe discuss what happened to us, but…” he looked at Josh, “It seems you’ve come to boost your confidence, settling for less than you deserve.” At this even Josh became visibly more enraged than he previously was.

“Asshole.”

-

“You’re an idiot.” Ryan mumbled, wetting the rag that he held in warm water. He was shaking his head, truly believing all that he said. “To give up people like them. They’re not like most people, they’re fragile and kind. You’re an idiot.” He turned, bringing the cloth to the cut lip of Pete Wentz.

“I know.” Pete sighed, trying not to move. As dangerous as Ryan came off sometimes, he was well trained in the medical field. And as much as Ryan acted like an ass-hole, he was actually a fairly nice guy and didn’t like to see anyone fight.

“Then why the hell did you cheat?” Ryan mumbled, watching as Pete hissed from the pain that his face felt. Gerard was one scary motherfucker when he wanted to be, and if there was one thing you didn’t do, that was mess with his little brother. The red-head had always been protective of Mikey, ever since they could walk.

Pete sighed a heavy sigh, not sure how to answer Ryan’s question, because he didn’t know the answer himself. He was stupid and in a moment of confusion and lust, lost his way. The issue though was that, that wasn’t true in the slightest. He had been attracted to Mikey. He always was. And in the moment, it had seemed like a good idea, a test to see if there was any spark that still lay between them. And fuck, Pete didn’t just feel a spark. He felt an entire firework show.

Every kiss had sent chills down his spine, and Mikey played bass so of course, his rough fingers played their way across Pete’s skin. It was a sort of electricity, a forbidden one. Because Pete had let Mikey go so long ago. And he was with Patrick now, or so he hoped. Patrick was obviously pissed at what went down between all of them, and Pete couldn’t blame him. Patrick was too nice to be taken advantage of and Pete had done exactly that. He took advantage of both of the boys in the worst way possible.

“I don’t know.” Pete answered instead, but that wasn’t entirely true either. While he loved Patrick with all his heart, Pete had a thing for Mikey and always would. As Frank once put it, you don’t fall in love with a Way and simply move on because they weren’t that easy to forget. They were every thought that would run through your head. Of course, Frank had said that when Pete and Mikey were still a happy couple, and while Pete had agreed then, he felt it more than ever in this moment.

“You know you’re gonna have to fix this,” Ryan said quietly, making Pete cringe. He didn’t want to think about trying to fix this mess that he’s caused. It wasn’t going to be easy, that much was sure.

“I’m just not sure how,” Pete sighed as Ryan finished cleaning up his lip. “I have a man that I love that’s so loyal and perfect and kind, but then there’s Mikey who makes my heart pound and he puts me on the edge of my seat.” While not many people knew the more exciting side of Mikey, it was there and he truly was the most beautiful person when he laughed so hard that he’d cry.

Pete was fucked.

-

“Stop!” Frank finally said in slight annoyance at the boy pacing in front of him. The two girls to his side sighed and one gave a small cheer as Gerard finally stopped walking back and forth, his blood still boiling.

“Fucking finally!” A girl with dark hair cheered, laughing some. To the side of her, her friend lightly slapped her arm as her sudden out-burst made an already upset Mikey jump a little. The girl only laughed more, watch as Frank stood up and walked over to his boyfriend of many years.

“You’ve been pacing for the past half hour and it’s making me nervous Gee.” Frank sighed, wrapping his hands into Gerard’s. They fit so perfectly, almost like they were made to fit into each other’s, like that where they belonged.

“I’m sorry,” Gerard finally sighed, rolling his eyes, a nervous tick rather than a sarcastic one. Frank sighed, slowly sliding his hands away from Gerard’s in order to wrap his arms around the taller boy’s neck. Gerard closed his eyes, exhaling slowly as he leaned his forehead against Frank’s both of them breathing in soft breaths that mingled at the closeness.

“This is my fault.” Mikey sided, rubbing his eyes. They all turned to him, but the dark-haired girl’s friend spoke up in a comforting tone.

“This is not your fault. It’s Pete’s and you know it. And don’t blame yourself for this Mikey.” She said sternly. He sighed.

“Thanks Corrie but it is. I knew that he was with someone and yet I allowed all of this to happen between us. And I accomplished nothing but being a relationship wrecker. And it’s all because I can’t resist myself around him.” Mikey whispered sadly. If anything he felt guilty and dirty. He had ruined what Patrick and Pete had, even though Patrick didn’t deserve any of this. He was just a sunshine child who wants everyone to get along with one another.

“Dani please help me here,” The previous girl mumbled, rubbing Mikey’s back.”

“He’s an idiot and I’ll commit murder for the cheap price of twenty dollars, but I also accept nice food.” The dark haired girl smiled, making Mikey laugh a little. He knew that Hayley and Sami would throw a fit if they knew that the two camps actually had quite close members, but he was thankful for his friends at Camp INTN.

He wasn’t sure why the camps had a rivalry, but he knew that it had been going on for years. Sami wasn’t a bad person and neither was Hayley, but they were both full of pride and didn’t want to be the one to end a good camp rivalry.

“I’ll do it for free.” Gerard mumbled, making Frank giggle.

“No murder. You can’t go to prison,” Frank whispered to him, and when Gerard met Frank’s eyes, he forgot why he was angry for a moment. Frank had that calming effect on him and always had. “If you go to jail then I won’t get to see you again for a very long time. That just wouldn’t do.” Frank whispered again, pecking Gerard on the lips. He smiled, pulling back but Gerard brought him in for a bit of a longer kiss. Frank wasn’t complaining though. He loved the feel of Gerard’s lips against his.

“Aweee.”

“This hurts.”

“Get a room!” the three to their side erupted into a chorus of comments, making the couple laugh.

No matter what happened, at least they had each other.


	12. Chapter 12

June 16, 2015

“Ok so we are on a very, very tight schedule here people.” Hayley screamed to everyone as they all scrambled for a seat. The games were approaching fast, and they were nowhere near prepared for this. At this point they were fast approaching the start of the games which were in only a few short weeks. “We need to start working, and unfortunately due to the games being a big hit last year, people will be filming every step of the way.”

“Is that why you’re wearing makeup?” Gerard smirked, laughing a little.

“Oh shut up. I’m stressed.” Hayley sighed before she triumphantly stood taller and declared, “I will not under any circumstance loose to anyone this year.” She had a sort of fire in her eyes that caused Tyler to actually be afraid of the small human for a few seconds.

“Crazyyyy.” Gerard giggled, still not snapping Hayley out of her happy state.

The only thing that snapped her out of this was Gabe clapping slowly. She immediately sent daggers his way. “And who the hell said you could attend the staff meeting?” She said, definitely showing everyone that she was more than a little on edge with the games coming so fast.

“I thought I could be of assistance. I do believe that you’re going up against who beat you last year.” Gabe smirked, walking towards Hayley. Her eyes went wide and she sent him the ‘how the hell did you know that’ look. “Well my dear fire girl, I have something that may help you.”

“She told us we’re not allowed to light things on fire or poison anyone this year!” Ryan perked up from the back of the crowd, and Tyler made a mental note to ask him about the poison part later.

“No that’s… that’s not at all where I was going with that,” Gabe paused, looking genuinely worried about Ryan for a second before he continued, “I happen to know one of the judges this year.” With this Hayley did paused. She seemed to find the only glimmer of hope for the ass in front of her. She jumped down and ran to Gabe, grabbing his shoulders rather violently, which made him almost fall on top of her.

“Tell me all you know!” She said, a crazed look in her eyes.

“Jesus Hay let him go!” Mikey exclaimed as the other boy had a look of fear in his eyes due to the fiery red-head in front of him.

“Mikey do not make me stick you and Ray on grill!” Hayley exclaimed, looking around for the fluffy haired boy before she let go of Gabe and paused. The boy was nowhere in sight. “Where the hell is Ray anyways? Did he not get the memo that this was a mandatory meeting? He’s supposed to be here!”

-

Ray however didn’t even think of the meeting he was missing as he lay in a cabin with five other people. One of whom was his lovely girlfriend, Melanie, and the rest were a bunch of loveable idiots. It consisted of Alex, Jack, Vic, and of course Kellin. He and the boys rarely left each other’s sides.

“I’m telling you, it can’t possibly be that bad. Mushy yes, but if it’s just the right temperature than it can’t be as horrible as you think.” Jack explained, trying to convince them all of his side during what Ray considered to be the weirdest conversation they’d all had yet, and they had even discussed Brendon and Ryan’s weird milk thing, and that alone was weird as hell and can’t be described in anything but the sounds of hell fire.

“I can see what you mean. If it was cold, uncomfortable. If it’s too hot fuck that. It would have to be right, but it’s still pretty nasty Jack.” Alex sighed, shaking his head.

“I’m just saying, you could totally fuck a burrito.”

“Ok hold on here!” Vic spoke up, “As a Mexican I think I can speak for three people in this word by saying that I’m offended that you would fuck something that means so much to us all.” He fake gasped and Kellin wiped away a fake tear.

“Yes I would fuck a burrito.” Jack said finally.

“Why are you all so freaking weird?” Melanie sighed. Ray looked down at her, her head resting on his lap. “Like, why can’t I have normal friends who have normal conversations?”

“You love us honey.” Kellin smiled sweetly, making her roll her eyes. And that’s when the door opened. Melanie sat up quickly as three people walked into the room. Among them were Maya, Joshua Montgomery and Jess Bowen, all of whose eyes widened majorly the moment they saw Ray.

“Oh shit.” Jess mumbled as the door closed behind them. Melanie jumped off the couch, walking towards them.

“No you can’t tell anyone. Please. They’d flip.” She was whispering urgently.

“I’m sorry, who is this?” Josh asked in confusion.

“That’s… he works for camp Ember,” Maya mumbled, her eyes still wide.

“Oh shit.” Josh repeated, his eyes growing just as wide.

“Look.” Jess walked towards Ray, “Just explain everything. No one is telling anyone anything yet.” At Melanie and Ray exclaimed looks before Melanie walked towards Ray, and then she grabbed his hand.

“Guys. I’d like you to meet my boyfriend. This is Ray Toro, he plays guitar, and I honestly love him with all my heart.” And then Ray looked at her as if she was his entire world. She was his sun and moon, and everything else that was beautiful.

“I love you too.” He whispered, kissing her forehead.

“Oh. My. God.” Maya cheered, running and hugging them both, “I’m so happy for you guys.” She was practically choking them both in happiness for them.

“Wait you guys knew?” Jess asked, her black-brown hair flying as she turned to look at Alex, Jack, Vic, and Kellin. They all nodded and she let out a small whistle before she turned back to Melanie and Ray, who’d finally been released, and gave her nod of approval.

“We’ll keep your secret.” Josh smiled, his blue eyes squishing as he did so.

-

“Look, can we just talk?” Pete asked, grabbing Patrick’s arm. The taller boy ripped his arm away, sending looks to Patrick. They were in front of everyone, when they were supposed to be helping prepare the sports for the games. Instead though, Pete had been bugging Patrick all day.

“No. We can’t.” Patrick said, turning to walk away, “There’s nothing to talk about.” He started to walk when he felt the small emo grab his arm once more, turning him back towards Pete, who in all honesty looked as sad as Patrick felt.

“There is too. Will you please come and talk with me?” Pete begged, and Patrick sighed, ripping his arm away once more.

“Fine.” He looked over at Hayley, who nodded understandingly. Then he proceeded to walk him and Pete over to the side of a cabin. It was now or never, and even Patrick knew they couldn’t just keep ignoring this.

“What?” He asked the moment they got around the corner.

“I fucked up.”

“Hell yes you did.” Patrick narrowed his eyes. “What the hell Pete? I thought we were good. Then you cheat on me with your ex?! I love you and that’s what you do to me. And Mikey, you and I both know damn well that he’s blaming himself for this. He didn’t deserve what you did Pete.”

“Patty this is his fa-“

“Some nerve you have.” Patrick started, “First of all, don’t call me that. You don’t deserve to call me that any more. Secondly, don’t you dare blame that poor boy. You knew he liked you, and I’ll bet you were the one that led it on.”

“I... I know I hurt you both. I didn’t know you were gonna fucking propose though.” Pete sighed.

“So that makes it ok?!” Patrick yelled suddenly, making Pete flinch a little. “You need to decide right now. Do you love me and only me?” and Patrick could see the hesitation in his eyes. “You know what? Hope to god that Mikey doesn’t take you back Pete. Goodnight.” And Patrick had never hurt more than he did walking away from Pete that night, because he truly did love Pete with all his heart.

It seemed Pete didn’t feel the same though. Patrick felt the love in Pete when Mikey came up.

He always had.

“So,” Frank smiled, holding Gerard’s hand. They’d decided to join the others late for dinner tonight. They’d been working with the sports department all day, and honestly needed some time for them. Besides, the sun was setting, and they’d be a pair of fools to not watch it when they had the chance.

“So,” Gerard smiled, moving his hand so he could tickle Frank’s side. The smaller boy giggled and folded into Gerard’s side, trying to get away from the tickling. Gerard laughed as well, moving his hand back to his own side as the two approached the dock.

“It’s a pretty sunset.” Frank smiled, “like you.”

“Dork.” Gerard laughed, kissing Frank’s head.

“I’m your dork.” Frank laughed, turning to Gerard before he smiled, “I’ll always be your dork as long as you let me.” At think Gerard rolled his eyes and kissed Frank lightly before he smiled.

“I was thinking forever.” Gerard mumbled, backing up. He grabbed Frank’s hands before he leaned down, getting on one knee. Frank dropped Gerard’s hands to cover his mouth. This wasn’t actually happening right? Was this some sort of dream he’d wake up from any second now? “If forever is alright with you, I’d like you to be mine.” Gerard smiled, grabbing a ring. There was no box, just a ring from his pocket, which Frank thought was even sweeter because Gerard didn’t have much money, and yet he still got something.

“Gerard.” Frank smiled, “Forever is more than enough for me.” He whispered, allowing the ring to be put on his finger before Gerard stood up and the two kissed once more. Frank bent backwards, almost falling at the force of it, but that was ok.

Because this was the best moment of his life.


	13. Chapter 13

June 19, 2015

Mikey had been crying. A lot. In fact he’d been crying every day since the argument with Pete and he hadn’t really talked to anyone either. Everything had been such a mess and he didn’t need people around him to confirm that. He wasn’t even talking to Gerard, who’d made several attempts. Honestly though after all of this Mikey knew the reason he wouldn’t talk to Gerard was because he didn’t want Pete to get hurt, which was stupid. Pete had hurt him. A lot, so why the hell was he so against Pete getting what he deserved?

It was questions like this that had been bugging Mikey all day, and they were the same reason he hadn’t left the cabin recently. So he was surprised when Ray came bursting through the door smiling.

“Mikey Way you’re my best friend.” Ray exclaimed. Mikey only looked at him in confusion and raised an eyebrow.

“I thought we covered that a few years ago? Am I missing something here?” He sighed, sitting up to really look at Ray who was buzzing in happiness at the moment. And for someone that hated a lot of things that was saying something.

“Mikey you’ve been my best friend for forever and I know that there’s something or rather someone I should’ve brought up a while ago.” Ray laughed, “Mikey I want you to meet Melanie, my girlfriend.” And with that a small girl walked into the room followed by a girl that Mikey actually knew. The first girl was smaller with long hair dyed in two different colors, her entire outfit a baby pink. The second was Vanessa, the arts director at camp INTN.

“Your girlfriend!?” Mikey smiled, for once in a while, and rushed over to hug Ray. The two best friends laughed in happiness and then Mikey turned to Melanie who also laughed and hugged him. And from then on Mikey decided he liked Melanie, she made Ray happy.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Melanie smiled, “I’ve wanted to but I couldn’t just come here so I brought back-up.” She pointed to Vanessa, “We were sort of hoping we could stay a while if that’s ok with you.” Mikey smiled, nodding.

“Can we get food?” Vanessa laughed, “If we’re staying I require food.”

“Mikey let’s get food.” Ray laughed, “We’ll be back soon Marshmallow,” he kissed Melanie on the cheek. Mikey couldn’t help but smile at the adorable couple, even if his own heart was breaking just a little.

-

“You can do this. You can do this, you’re Pete fucking Wentz.” Pete mumbled to himself as he stood outside Mikey and Ray’s cabin. After he talked to Patrick Pete realized that he not only needed to apologize to him, but to Mikey as well. Mikey had been blamed for so much and thinking he caused Patrick and Pete to break up must have not helped him. Truth is though that Pete and Patrick didn’t have the happiest of relationships anyways, this just topped it all off honestly.

So Pete knocked, knowing that Mikey deserved a few words as well, seeing as this was actually Pete’s fault anyways. However when the door opened it wasn’t Mikey. It was two girls, one being Vanessa from the rival camp, INTN, and the other a girl with two colors of hair. And they froze when they saw Pete.

“And you are?” Vanessa sighed. Pete raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

“I should be asking you that seeing as this isn’t your camp.” He stated, earning an eye roll from the other girl who decided to speak up.

“Look this has nothing to do with you. We’re visiting Ray and Mikey if you must know. That, like I said, is none of your business though.” She smiled, revealing a gap between her teeth. Pete rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

“Whatever, look I just want to talk to Mikey.” He sighed, but the girl with the gap just shook her head.

“No can do. He and Ray went to go grab something from Frank. They should be back soon though if you wonna wait inside.” He nodded, walking inside the cabin. He hadn’t been here since him and Mikey had hooked up, and looking at it now, it hurt more than ever.

He sat on the bed, sighing as the whole side of the room smelt like Mikey. And at that Pete was happy he wasn’t alone because he probably would’ve had a melt down on the spot. He’d never admit it but he missed Mikey, a lot.

“So what is your name?” Vanessa asked, sitting on the other bed in the room, the girl with the gap tooth did the same.

“Pete.” The small girl went to shake his hand until he uttered his name, and then she paused.

“You’re not the same Pete that hurt Mikey are you?” She sighed, “Sorry, you need to leave. I have morals and you need to leave that poor boy alone after the shit you did.” She started to grab his arm to push him out of the room, but Pete stopped.

“How the hell do you know about that?” She stopped, holding out her hands once more.

“Nice to meet you Pete, my name’s Melanie, also known as Ray’s girlfriend.” She smiled, and suddenly Ray missing all of the camp meetings was starting to make a whole lot more sense than it was before. “Now if you’ll please leave before they get back that would be amazi-”

“We’re here!” Ray smiled, opening the door with Mikey following shortly behind. They all froze the moment they saw Pete. Mikey saw him, immediately giving the food to Ray and turning to walk away. Pete ran after, running around the disapproving look as Mikey sped from the cabin.

“Mikey!” But he wasn’t listening, he was still walking as fast as he could, and Pete was honestly having a hard time keeping up with his giraffe legs. So Pete decided to take huge measures. “Merbear stop!” And at that Mikey did stop. She stopped and turned to Pete, only to slap him.

“You have no right to call me that anymore you asshole.” Mikey sighed, his voice shaking. And he was right, Pete didn’t have the right to call him that anymore. So Pete stopped, and Mikey left.

-

“Come on guys it’s really not that hard to hit a ball!” Josh yelled as Megan screamed as the volleyball flew her way once more. “Megan come on the ball isn’t going to damage you for god’s sake!”

“I don’t think you understand! I need to be beautiful when I meet my future husband, I don’t need a broken nose!” She yelled, making the boy behind Josh laugh. He turned, glaring as Tyler smiled at him. Josh sighed, laughing as well as Tyler moved forward and hugged him.

“Rough day?” He smiled, tucking his head into Josh’s chest.

“I don’t particularly want my head to be ripped off by Hayley when we lose sports is all.” Josh laughed, kissing the top of Tyler’s head, which made Megan scream again, but for ship reasons. Tyler only laughed, backing up before jumping and putting his legs around Josh’s waist and kissing him, which literally made Megan almost faint.

Josh only laughed and sat Tyler back, “I need to not kill my players Mr. Joseph.” Josh smiled, kissing his boyfriend once more, “Beside you have a class in like five minutes.”

“If I must go,” Tyler smiled, “Are we still on for dinner and stealing Netflix from the main cabin?” And at this Josh couldn’t help but kiss him again.

“Have I ever told you you’re my dream man?” Josh laughed as Tyler smiled and started making his way towards the music hall.

Tyler was happy he’d found Josh in all honesty. Not only had his own confidence gone up but he was seriously learning what it felt like to trust someone again, which is something that he hadn’t done since Gabe.

“Ty!” Speaking of the demon tit, Tyler turned to see Gabe as he was almost to the music hall.

“Oh you’re still here.” Tyler sighed. “Can you please go? Like I actually have stuff to do.” But Gabe only smiled.

“Oh Ty, I’m not gonna leave you here. Especially with your boy toy.” Gabe smiled, following Tyler.

“Josh is a nice guy.” Tyler sighed.

“Sure. Have you thought what about what’ll happen when you leave in a month? What will be of you two? He won’t come with you based on his personality so what will you do when your summer fling ends?” Gabe sighed, putting on a fake frown, “Ty baby I’m just looking out for you. I still care, even after you broke my heart.” And Tyler stopped at that, turning to Gabe.

“Get the fuck out of my music class.”

But despite his confident words, Tyler couldn’t help but wonder what would come of him and Josh after all.


	14. Chapter 14

June 23, 2015

“Ladies and gentlemen!” The speaker boomed over the large park. The camp games began today, well the sporting ones at least. It was being held between 12 camps all who traveled to a huge outing in the Rocky Mountains. “Welcome to the annual Summer Games. Camps head to the designated area. The games begin in two hours!” Tyler and the others hopped off the camp bus, squinting at the sun which proved to be extremely evil, making today the hottest day of the summer.

“Ok guys!” Hayley and Patrick walked to the front of the crowd, looking over all the faces, “Today is the day. We’ll rest up then Josh will take you through some stretches and what not. Our camp is this way so let’s go, and please don’t talk to the other camps” the crowd started moving, the other camps all starting to get set up.

“Well look what the cat dragged in.” a voice laughed and Hayley froze, already knowing who it was.

“Samantha,” Hayley sighed, turning to the girl.

“Don’t call me that.” The girl narrowed her eyes, “You know very well that I hate being called that.” Hayley smirked and suddenly Tyler got the feel that these two knew each other much more than they let on. Hayley smirked, turning to lead her campers off to their own camp spots.

The camp area for them was one of the larger ones as they were a fairly good sized camp. Chairs and equipment was scattered everywhere, making Ryan and Josh smile, both of whom were directors in the sporting sections of the games. The kids however were a different story, and Josh very well knew that they were nowhere near where they should have been. It wasn’t entirely their fault though, most of the girls were distracted by Tyler hanging on Josh, and Ryan was hardly there due to Brendon.

“Ok kiddos!” Josh yelled, making a few people laugh and others roll their eyes.

“Kiddos?” Megan giggled, tilting her head to the side a bit. Josh smiled, pointing at her.

“Deal with it. You know the drill by now, start doing some jumping jacks to warm yourself up, and then I expect some good stretching. That goes for the guys too, I expect some actual toe touches.” He laughed, making a few more of the students groan as Hayley turned to some people.

“Ok Josh, Ryan, I expect you two to get them prepared, we have to win this guys. Patrick you’re on attendance, Pete go with Patrick and sort your shit out before we get to the other parts of the games, Gabe go sucker up to that judge.” She ordered. Josh and Ryan saluted, laughing. Pete looked at Patrick, who turned and started to walk away, and Gabe smiled, slipping off to go see his old “friend”.

“Let’s do this people!”

-

“Are we going to talk or are you just going to continue to ignore me for no reason?” Pete sighed and Patrick narrowed his eyes as he checked another name off the attendance list.

“No reason? Let’s recap here Pete, you let me fall in love with you and you tell me sweet things, you then proceed to cheat on me with a boy who clearly loves you and you still have something for, and then you’re rude to the boy who did nothing to you at all, and then you seem to think everything is ok. I think that qualifies as a reason.” Patrick said, his voice snapping a little as he spoke to Pete, who only sighed.

“I’m trying to write my wrong. It’s hard though.” Pete said softly, and as much as Patrick wanted to hate Pete for what he did to him, Patrick couldn’t hate anyone for any reason… well unless they killed animals, because who wouldn’t get upset at that? Like seriously who hurts an innocent little animal? “Patrick?” Pete asked, making Patrick snap out of his weird thoughts about animals.

“What?” Patrick sighed, obviously not getting any work done.

“Can we please talk? As friends?” Pete mumbled, finally letting the sadness from what he did sink in. Pete had betrayed both of the people he held dear at one point, but he knew Patrick wouldn’t turn his back on Pete. Before they got together the two had been best friends for years, and nothing changed that. So Patrick sighed and took a seat by Pete who smiled at him.

“Ok Pete. No feelings, friends. What’s going on in your head right now?” Patrick asked, pushing all his emotions to the side, just being the friend that they both needed right now.

“I’m torn between two people that I’m in love with,” Pete said softly, “And I don’t know what to do for once and that scares the shit out of me Pat.” Pete finally let out, his voice cracking a little, and Patrick wasted no time wrapping the boy up into a hug. Pete hugged back with no hesitation, smiling at the fact that Patrick really was too pure for this world.

“Pete, you have to pick who you love more. And you have to tell them. No bullshit.” Patrick mumbled, rubbing Pete’s back.

“I have to decide.” Pete sighed.

“You have to decide.”

-

Meanwhile, everyone’s least favorite character Gabe was slowly making his way towards the judges tent, trying to slip pass any distractions, which was hard for him because he was true a fuckboy. But he remained true to his task, purely for that fact that Hayley scared him a bit, almost making him consider asking her out. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure she would punch him in the face if he even attempted to do that, so he went to the boy he’d known so well for so many years.

“Sir I’m afraid you can’t come in here,” A large man with many tattoos and a name tag reading Austin said, putting his hand on Gabe’s chest to stop him. Gabe swallowed, being tall but definitely not strong enough to take this guy on, so instead he smiled.

“Excuse me I’m here to see my boyfriend, he’s a judge.” Gabe smiled sweetly, making the guy narrow his eyes.

“I didn’t hear about any boyfriend, so I’m afraid you can’t go in.” He stated again. Gabe’s smile faltered.

“Are you telling me I’m not allowed to go see my own boyfriend? What the hell? He’s not going to be happy,” he smiled, spotting the boy he was looking for standing by the table, so he decided to kick the lie up a notch for effect, “Honey! They won’t let me in!” Gabe yelled, catching everyone’s attention, including the boy’s. The boy smiled though, immediately knowing to play along.

“Austin please let the boy in, he hasn’t seen me in so long after he cheated on me. That bitch.” The boy sighed, “but I love his stupid face anyways.” The guy sighed at this, stepping aside for Gabe to walk in, both of the boys dramatically hugging each other.

“Oh how I’ve missed you my love!” Gabe cried, throwing his head back, which made the boy sigh.

“I missed you too, even if you did cheat on me with that one-eyed guy who sold baseball cards and dressed in women’s clothes!” the boy smiled, looking at Gabe with fondness.

“I can’t help it baby. He knew what I liked.” Gabe smiled, playing with the boy’s hair a little as Austin shivered and walked away from them, making the both burst out laughing. They let go of one another, just smiling.

“Gabe Saporta.” The boy smiled, looking Gabe up and down, “you have not changed a bit.”

“William fucking Beckett,” Gabe smiled, “can’t say the same, your hair is shorter now than it was before, I like it though.” They smiled, hugging again, and maybe Gabe was happy he didn’t stop to talk to the other girls.

-

The heat wasn’t helping at all when it came to the kid’s performances. Almost every camp was stumbling in some sort of way, including Camp INTN and Camp Ember. Camp INTN started out strong in track, with all the runners performing exceptionally, but found their downfall in volleyball when one of their best players was nailed in the face by Megan who proceeded to cry because she felt so bad. While they actually did ok in volleyball though, it seemed the downfall of the games was in simple sports for Camp Ember.

In the end it took everything they had to even get the kids to keep moving, and Tyler was beginning to agree with how they were feeling. He was completely exhausted, and wasn’t at all surprised when Camp INTN took victory over them, making Hayley throw a clip board. It wasn’t surprising that the others weren’t exactly happy either, most of them storming off. Tyler even noticed Brendon and Ryan fighting in the corner.

And yet all that mattered to him was when Josh came over and hugged him.

-

“I’m telling you I need space.” Ryan sighed, ripping himself away from Brendon who didn’t understand why he was so upset with him.

“Ry please just tell me what’s wrong!” Brendon sighed as the two walked away from the rest of the group, all of whom were too upset to notice the couple fighting. “What did I do to upset you?”

“Brendon you just… you’re too close right now. I need space from you if I’ll get it right.” Ryan said angrily, making Brendon freeze in confusion.

“Get what right?” Brendon asked, but Ryan only looked at him for a split second before walking away shaking his head.

“You wouldn’t get it.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the late update but my laptop broke. i'll try to keep updating asap though

June 27, 2015

In the days leading up to the camp games, Brendon couldn’t stop thinking about the fight that occurred between him and Ryan. The younger boy was just so off, and since hadn’t even talked to Brendon and quite frankly it was starting to give him a headache in that big sixhead of his. He didn’t know why Ryan had stopped talking to him, but it seemed one person did, which is precisely why Brendon cornered Gerard as he was helping a student add some finishing touches to one of their pieces.

“Gee we need to talk,” he said quickly, gaining the attention of one of Megan’s friends near-by. The red head simply looked up and sighed.

“Does it have to be now? I have dinner with Frank I’d like to attend and I don’t much consider Hayley ripping my head off due to lack of preparation to be any sort of help in that.” But Brendon nodded frantically, and Gerard sighed, leaving the distracted girl to work on her piece alone. The two walked to the entrance of the hall and Gerard sighed again, “This is about Ryan?” 

“I know you know what’s wrong.” Brendon gave a sigh and Gerard nodded begrudgingly.

“I want to tell you, but it’s not my place B. Go talk to him yourself. It’s not that big of an issue, he just needs a little guidance from you is all.” Gerard brushed some of his hair behind his ear with paint covered hands and looked around, “look Hayley is coming. Ryan is down at the Nature Center, just go talk to him please.” He smiled a little before slipping back to the paintings and avoiding eye contact with Hayley.

Brendon figured this was probably the best he was going to get out of Gerard and so he too slipped down the steps and started towards the Nature Center. The clouds above had been a dull grey since the sports games, which seemed odd due to the heat they had recently experienced, but according to Patrick, this sift in weather was normal and happened often in Colorado.

So Brendon tried to ease his mind by wondering if indeed it was going to start raining at any point soon because it was certainly cool enough to do so. Unfortunately, the weather couldn’t keep his mind off of everything, as when he arrived at the center he saw Ryan laying on top of one of the wooden tables, watching the rolling grey clouds. Brendon felt his heart flutter a bit as he moved closer and noticed Ryan was humming the song him and Hayley had sang on the first night of the camp.

“Are you just gonna stand there?” Ryan mumbled, making Brendon jump a bit. The boy turned his head, laying his cheek on the cool wood of the table to look at Brendon. Even Brendon couldn’t help but smile though as he stared at the boy with a mop of hair hanging in front of his beautiful eyes.

“Right,” Brendon blinked, “Sorry. I was just wondering if we could talk.” Ryan nodded and scooted over, and Brendon smiled when he realized Ryan was inviting him to lay on the table as well. He climbed over, squeezing onto the thin strip that caused their shoulders to overlap or else they’d fall off the edge.

“I’m sorry.” Ryan whispered, his voice so quiet that Brendon almost didn’t hear the words come out of his mouth. Brendon looked at him in shock, their faces only inches apart which made Brendon’s heart flip once more.

“Why?” Brendon asked softly.

Ryan smiled a shy grin, “I got scared of fucking all this up so I ran before I could. I realized that was a mistake though. I can’t stop thinking about you and your stupid forehead, and your nice smile, and the make-out sessions in the woods. All I’ve learned from this is I can’t stand to be away from you for that long.”

“You idiot,” Brendon smiled, finding Ryan’s hand and lacing their fingers together on the table. “I wouldn’t let you walk away that easily. You’re my first keeper.” Brendon laughed and Ryan blushed.

“So we’re ok?” Ryan smiled, inching closer to Brendon as they lay there.

“Yeah,” Brendon laughed, “We’re ok Ry.” He leaned in, connecting their lips just as the first specks of rain started to fall on them. But this only made them both smile even more, because Brendon knew the sun would start shinning again.

“Bren?” Ryan whispered, “Wonna go make out in the forest in the rain?” Brendon laughed and sat up.

“Hell yeah I do.”

-

Josh smiled as him and Debby watched Jenna and Tyler splash each other, both deciding to swim despite the downpour coming from the north. They were laughing and tackling each other and Debby had made multiple comments to Josh about how hot Jenna was, to which Josh claimed she wasn’t nearly as attractive as Tyler.

“So Joshua.” Debby smiled, “You seem to be quite infatuated with this Tyler boy,” she wiggled her eyebrows, making Jos laugh and shove her some, but he couldn’t help the blush that had settled down upon his cheeks.

“Oh shut up.” Josh laughed, making Debby giggle.

“No it’s a good thing. I haven’t seem you ever really stick around with someone for this long. It’s actually nice to know you’re capable of human emotions.” She grinned and he shoved her again, making her smile widen.

“I do like him though,” Josh said quietly, watching as his boyfriend dove under the water and dragged Jenna with him. “He’s not like anyone else I’ve ever been with. He’s smart and cute and the perfect amount of clingy.”

“Damn,” Debby laughed. “Sounds like a real Romeo. If I wasn’t gay as hell I’d give you some competition there pal.” Josh rolled his eyes.

“So you and Jenna huh?” Josh smiled, and Debby grinned excitedly.

“Yeah,” she smiled, blushing as she watched Jenna splash Tyler, “I think I’m in love with her honestly. And to tell you the truth after this summer we’ve discussed moving in together and everything.” Josh’s heart lit up and he smiled even more.

“I’m so happy for you.” He said truthfully.

“What about you and lover-boy? Any clue what you’ll be doing after this summer?” She smiled, but Josh stopped smiling at that.

“Honestly? No clue. We’ve just been kind of going with the flow.” Debby paused a moment before she decided to ask her next question.

“Do you think you have a future past this summer?” She asked quietly.

“Honestly?...”

-

Gabe smiled down at the text from William as he walked through the rain. He had missed the boy so much and didn’t even realize it until this moment when they were together once more. So Gabe happily headed towards the lake where he heard laughing and noticed Tyler and Jenna, Jenna flipping him off when she noticed him as well. He blew a kiss and sat down on the moist grass, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

He noticed Debby and Josh sitting nearby on the grass as well, both of them laughing and pushing each other around while speaking fondly of who they were with.

So Gabe decided to stay a bit longer.

IT was only when the conversation he had be overhearing went quieter and less happy that his interest spiked.

““Honestly? No clue. We’ve just been kind of going with the flow.” Josh shrugged, looking out at Tyler who was trying to get back at Jenna for splashing him with the water.

“Do you think you have a future past this summer?” Debby asked softly and Josh’s frowned deepened, and suddenly Gabe was much more interested in what the two were talking about. He couldn’t help that he found amusement in some people’s sorrow.

“Honestly?” Josh paused for a second, looking out at Tyler once more, “I don’t know. I like him and all but I’m not sure if I’m in love with him ya know? It’s just a lot to be decided and I’m not sure if Tyler plans on staying here for if he plans on going back to Ohio.” Josh’s voice was hushed, but Gabe could still make out the words when Debby replied.

“Do you think you’d go with him?”

“I don’t know that either, I do like him but I have family here.” Josh said sadly. Gabe stood up, brushing off his clothes and smiled.

The sun was finally shinning.


	16. Chapter 16

July 2, 2015

The sun was indeed shinning as Pete sat down on the logs that once held a bunch of new workers. Things had been so different only a month or so ago, and it seemed they had no plans of slowing down any time soon. Tyler and Josh had just met, both of them obviously having small crushes on one another. Brendon and Ryan had snuck off for the first time to go make out somewhere. Gerard and Frank were only boyfriends who were madly in love. Gabe hadn’t existed to half of them. Jenna and Debby had just started to hit it off. Mikey was an ex, and most importantly, Pete was in love with Patrick. Or so he thought.

It wasn’t so clear any more what he felt for Patrick. He knew he loved him at some point but he had loved Mikey as well, and at one point saw a future for them. Now? He wasn’t entirely sure who he loved more, but he knew he needed to make up his mind.

Mikey and he had just always fit together like some puzzle pieces, and frankly Pete didn’t remember a time he’d been happier than he was when he was with Mikey. Still, the two had issues as well, and they never were quite able to work them out the way that they wanted to. Patrick on the other had had always been by Pete’s side, the two being best friends for as long as he could remember. But who was better?

A small laughter erupted from the other end of the camp and Pete saw Patrick chatting with Hayley as the two walked together. His eyes were sparkling like always as she ranted to him about something that probably had to do with the games. But when his eyes moved they caught sight of Mikey. He was kneeling next to one of the younger students who was crying, and he was wiping away the child’s tears, whispering to the girl who nodded.

Pete sighed, looking up at the shinning sun.

He’d made up his mind.

-

“Delivery for Mr. Joseph.” There was a soft knock on the Music Hall door, causing Tyler to look up from what he was doing. He’d been trying to write a new song when Josh had shown up, a box in his hands. Tyler smiled though, raising an eyebrow as he closed his music book and Josh walked over towards him, grinning at his boyfriend. “I brought you some sandwiches made by Ray before he left. I’d have made them but I’d do something horribly wrong.” He smiled, sitting on the bench and handing Tyler the box. Tyler couldn’t help but grin.

“How romantic.” He laughed.

“You know it baby.” Josh smiled, looping his arm around Tyler’s back so he could lean close enough and kiss the boy’s brown hair. “What cha doing anyways?” He smiled, eyeing the book Tyler had closed.

“Well I was writing a song when you showed up.” Tyler smiled, making Josh nudge his side a little.

“Can you play it for me?” Josh smiled, making Tyler frown a bit. They’d been over this multiple times before, and every time Tyler replied the same.

“I’m not ready.” Tyler said softly, allowing himself to at least let his fingers rest on the keys. Deep down he wanted to play for Josh, that’s all he ever wanted to do. However he wasn’t ready to trust anyone with that side of him just yet. Still Josh sighed and looked with sad eyes at Tyler.

“Are you ever going to be ready?” He replied softly, his big brown eyes landing on Tyler who looked at him with a sigh.

“One day.” He whispered.

“Right.” Josh sighed sadly, “I’ll see you later Ty.” He mumbled, scooting off the edge of the seat and standing up. Tyler sighed as well, turning to his boyfriend who was obviously disappointed.

“Josh you don’t have to go.” He mumbled, but Josh was already walking away.

“Wouldn’t want to get in the way of you and your music.” He said softly, waving a hand before leaving the building. Tyler groaned, letting his head drop onto the piano before he slowly lifted it, staring at the book that sat in front of him. He did want to show Josh but he couldn’t quite yet. And how was he to tell Josh?

How would he tell Josh the song is for him?

-

Tyler carried the book under his arm as he walked out of the music room, not yet able to decide what he wants to do about the who Josh situation. He did want to sow Josh, and god was he ready to, but he couldn’t. The song he was writing was for the games. He’d talked to some of the most talented students and planned to have them sing with him, a song to Josh. Tyler’s first love song he’d ever written.

“Ty!” He heard a snide voice call and Tyler inwardly wanted to shoot himself because he knew exactly who the voice belonged to. And he also considered just continuing to walk, but caved and turned with a sigh to face Gabe, who was beaming at him.

“What do you want?” Tyler said.

“Trouble in paradise?” Gabe smiled, joining Tyler on his walk.

“Who told you that?” Tyler raised an eyebrow, fully aware that he and Josh had been alone in the music room when they had talked.

“I heard Josh. Seems he’s been doubting you guys lately.” Gabe said in a sickly sweet voice, making Tyler laugh a little.

“You’re so full of it. Me and Josh are fine.” Tyler smiled, knowing that Gabe often made up crap. Still, Gabe just smiled and stopped.

“Oh really? Tell me this than Ty. Why do you think he’s not brought up anything after this summer? I believe the phrase he used was something like ‘sure I like him. But I don’t know if I love him.’ Now if he’d told me that I’d say you’re fine, but I trust that he tells Debby everything yes?” Tyler’s heart stopped beating for a moment. “Anyways, I gotta blast, hot date tonight.” He laughed, running off and leaving Tyler once more.

Tyler didn’t want to believe the words were true. But… they seemed a little too real.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funfact: I've met multiple characters in this story :'-)

July 2, 2015

Gabe couldn't help but laugh as the boy in front of him turned his head sharply, modeling a horribly tied scarf around his head. William laughed too, loving the way that Gabe's eyes lit up even in the dim light of the camp fire. The two decided for their 'date' that they'd just relax. Gabe wasn't sure if he should even call it a date. They never said the word date, and never have. 

They'd always had a sort of thing between them though. A good hookup once in a while, but nothing more than that. Gabe had had that with a lot of people, but he'd never been able to resist William. They used to meet up all of the time until William moved away from Chicago. Gabe went to Ohio, meeting Tyler, and thought he'd found happiness. That was until William showed up again and it was like they'd never left. That was until Tyler found out of course, but by them William was already leaving again. Tyler broke it off with Gabe, earning his hate in the process, and Gabe never saw William again.

"What's on your mind?" William laughed, sitting against the log with Gabe. Gabe smiled softly and looked up at the stars.

"You." Gabe smiled and William returned it.

"Yeah I'm pretty sexy. Bet you're thinking of me naked." He laughed making Gabe roll his eyes.

"Well now I am asshole." He smiled, "Really though, did you ever think of... us?" William paused, wrapping an arm around Gabe's shoulders.

"I never stopped." He smiled.

"Yeah me either." Gabe said softly, "I wish I'd gone with you. Back when you moved. I wouldn't have hurt Tyler. I'm trying to fix that by protecting him but it's just... I'm different around you." He said suddenly. "I'm usually such an asshole. But I can't be next to you."

William smiled before kissing the boy leaning into him.

-

July 3, 2015

"So I'm sitting there looking this guy in the eyes and you can tell he's not happy. I mean, I did just accidentally shoot his stuffed animal and stole his pet duck. And I look him in the eyes, holding this duck and say with the straightest face, 'I'm sorry sir but I haven't seen your cow.' And the guy loses it on me." Kellin laughed, leaning into Vic, "If Vic here hadn't shown up, I'm sure the guy would have stabbed me, after all he was still holding the ninja sword." 

"It's true." Vic smiled, "And then Alex shows up, slides right by the guy into the house and asks him why he looks so mad." 

"How are you idiots not dead?" Melanie asked with wide eyes, always enjoying the weird tales her friends had to share. Ray laughed, pulling the rest of her hair into a braid, always loving the way that the colors mixed together. She smiled as the door opened and Jess walked in with Joshua. 

"Guys we need to talk," the blonde boy said quickly, making Jess nod in agreement.

"What's wrong?" Ray said, not liking their worried looks. It was never a good sign when Joshua was worried. He was usually very calm and collected.

"Mel, people are starting to question where you've been running off to all the time. The heads of camp are thinking of having someone follow you even." Jess sighed, sitting down on the arm of the couch. "You guys either need to start being better at sneaking around or you need to come clean. This is starting to become a pain and I think they know something is wrong. Josh and I can't cover for you forever." There was a long pause as Vic whispered 'no Bueno man.'

"Well..." Melanie said softly, "maybe it's time we do come clean. We've been together for almost an entire year and you just recently told your best friend. I think... maybe we should just tell everyone."

"No way." Ray said immediately, not sure why she would even suggest that. The camp games approaching was only going to make this feud worse, and that was only going to cause them more stress if everyone knew.

"What?" Melanie asked suddenly, "and why not? Are you ashamed of people knowing about us?" Her eyes were narrower now and she wasn't happy.

"No I think we should just wait longer," he tried to explain.

"Oh really?" Melanie asked, sliding away from him. Alex and Jack suddenly stood up claiming to have remembered they needed to do something, shortly followed by Vic and Kellin.

"Yes really." Ray said louder.

"We've waited almost a year!" Melanie yelled louder, making Josh grab Jess' arm, pulling her away. "I don't want to wait forever Ray. I need you to want to tell someone I'm worth a little crap from the camps. I mean what can they do? You're just a cook, not a teacher." 

"Oh so I'm not worth the same?" Ray narrowed his own eyes, his fists clenching, "Whatever." He stood up, grabbing his coat and walking toward the door when Melanie yelled a reply.

"Well maybe we need some time apart!" Her voice cracked, unsure of her words, but it was enough to make Ray pause where he was.

"Maybe." And with that he pulled open the door and left Melanie on the brown couch.

-

Pete marched with a smile on his face. He knew where he was headed, and that's what made him happy. He was headed to the boy he truly loved with all his heart. He'd already checked the boy's cabin and no one was there, which left the cafeteria. So Pete march to it with his heart beating fast, his heart in his throat. The doors opened and the boy sat with a leather jacket covering his shoulders. So Pete marched over, scared of what the boy will say. 

"It's you. It was always you. You're the one I was always with." He said softly, making the boy turn, his smile quickly fading.

"Pete. What are you doing?" Patrick said softly, his eyes dull.

"It's you. You were with me from the start. I love you." Pete smiled, making Patrick's frown deepen. 

"You're not." Patrick said softly, "that's what I've been trying to show you." Pete's stomach dropped from his throat to his stomach. "Your heart doesn't beat for me like that. I'm your best friend Pete, and that's not going to change. Mikey and you, that's how it was always supposed to be Pete."

"But-" Pete tried, but Patrick held up a hand.

"We're over Pete. Be with who made you happy."


	18. Chapter 18

July 10, 2015

Ray was miserable. He’d been a whole week without Melanie. For him though it was starting to feel like ages. It was weird not having her tucked into his side or giggling to some stupid joke. And it was driving him absolutely crazy. All he wanted was to see her again, and I didn’t matter what it’d take, it’s all he wanted.

The camp games had finally arrived and thankfully it wasn’t nearly as killer as last time. The arts was even in doors which made this even nicer, but god was Ray not happy. He can see her, talking to Alex and Jack who’d been trying to talk to Ray all day anyways. It was tearing him up.

“Ok seriously Ray what the hell is your problem? You’ve been worse than me all day.” Hayley mumbled, joining Ray on one of the nearby benches. He looked up at her sadly before turning back to Melanie. “What did one of the enemies trash talk you or something?” She laughed before he sighed.

“More like broke up with me.” He said softly, making Hayley pause.

“What?” he looked up at her, a small smile on his lips.

“I was an idiot. I let your stupid camp feud get between me and the girl I fell in love with, all because I didn’t want anyone to find out.” He laughed bitterly, making Hayley pause for a moment. She didn’t look like she knew what to say. So she just watched Melanie before turning to Ray.

“Why the hell are you still here?” She narrowed her eyes. He looked at her incredulously.

“Are you… firing me? Seriously?” Her eyes widened and a small smile came to her face. She shook her head, allowing her bright red hair fall into her face.

“No you idiot. Why are you still sitting here? You’re in love aren’t you?”

-

“I’m proud of you.” Frank smiled, squeezing the arms that were wrapped around him from the back. He could feel Gerard smile into his mess of hair. They were stood in a corner, watching the students set up their art and get ready for the performing arts like ballet and even a play. The art section of the games had always been Camp Ember’s winning category, and Gerard wasn’t prepared to give that up just yet.

-

They won. Tyler wasn’t surprised at that, and frankly it was nice to see everyone smiling again. Hayley was ecstatic and Ray was happy, smiling with his girlfriend once more. The two had even told everyone about the relationship. However, Tyler was not smiling. Gabe’s words had gotten under his skin, and frankly, Tyler wasn’t able to even look Josh in the eyes at the moment.

“Tyler?” Josh finally had found him, hiding behind stage. “There you are I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I was starting to think you were avoiding me.” Josh laughed. Tyler bit his lip, and the laughing immediately stopped. “Are you avoiding me?”

“Well it’s not that I’m avoiding you, I just…” Tyler sighed, looking at Josh with tears in his eyes.

“Ty? Honey what’s wrong?” Josh said softly, pulling Tyler quickly into a hug. Tyler couldn’t stop himself from wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and allowing himself to finally start crying. He couldn’t help it. Every time he was sad and someone hugged him it was a reassurance that this was ok.

“I don’t know what to do.” Tyler said softly into Josh’s chest.

“Shhhhh it’s ok love. Whatever is wrong, it’ll sort itself out in the end.” Josh cooed in Tyler’s ear, rubbing the smaller boy’s back.

“No it won’t.” He mumbled, pulling back some.

“Tyler honey what’s wrong?” Josh whispered, petting his boyfriend’s hair. Slowly, the boy pulled back and wiped his tears, still sniffing.

“You.” Tyler said softly, making Josh stop breathing for a second, because he couldn’t have heard that right. Tyler immediately started crying again though, and Josh just stood there, unsure of what to do.

“What?” He whispered in a broken voice instead.

“This won’t last. That’s what’s wrong.” Tyler sniffed.

“Tyler what are you talking about?” Josh whispered, attempting to move closer to the boy who only stepped back more.

“Gabe told me Josh. I know what you told Debby. I know you don’t love me and I know you plan on giving all of this up. So why are you prolonging this Josh? Why don’t you just drop me right now and call it good instead of dragging me on?” Tyler’s voice became stronger, and he couldn’t stop the tears at this point, but Josh made to effort to wipe them away.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Josh was angry at this point, unbelieving that his boyfriend was being so fucking stupid.

“I mean that you need to stop dragging me on!” Tyler yelled, making a few of the stage workers, including Jenna, stop what they were doing.

“I’m not!” Josh screamed back.

“Oh so I suppose you have a plan?” Josh just stared angrily at him, “whatever. Fuck you and your attitude.” Tyler sighed, putting his hands up as he backed away.

“What are you saying Ty?” Josh sighed, his voice cracking once more.

“We’re done.”


	19. Chapter 19

July 19, 2015

Tyler was pissed when he marched towards Gabe’s cabin. Josh didn’t try to stop him, didn’t even blink when Tyler ended them. So he decided he didn’t need that ass. He didn’t need anything or anyone but a distraction at the moment, and he knew that if Gabe was good for one thing it was a good distraction. So he walked to the cabin the moment he got back to camp and arched up to Gabe’s door before angrily knocking on it. And slowly it opened to reveal a surprised Gabe Saporta.

“Ty-” but he didn’t finish the thought before Tyler kissed him, and immediately Gabe reacted, throwing his arms around the boy’s waist. Tyler was pulled into the cabin and he heard the door close before he was being pushed against the cold door and Gabe was kissing his neck.

Tyler felt his hand’s tangle into Gabe’s soft hair and a moan escaped his lips before he was pulled away from the door and towards the white bed in the corner. He landed with a soft thud on it and felt Gabe crawl above him, closing the space between them. Tyler moved to kiss Gabe once more and-

“Stop,” Gabe whispered, moving back. Tyler’s eyes snapped open and he looked up to see Gabe almost crying, “Stop I can’t do this.” He whispered, rolling off of Tyler who just lay there for a second, looking at the spot on the ceiling that lay just behind where Gabe just hovered above him.

“What?” Tyler’s voice came out smaller than usual.

“I can’t do this. I never could, and god I’m so sorry for thinking so. I’m in love Tyler!” He giggled as tears ran down his cheeks. Tyler’s eyes widened at this and he sat up far too fast and felt the blood rush to his head.

“What?!” He asked excitedly.

“I can’t describe it. But I’m sure that I’m in love with William. I get butterflies and my stomach does flips and… I’m in love with him. I’m completely and utterly head over heels for this boy Tyler.” Gabe smiled, his cheeks turning a bit red. Tyler squeaked happily and flew forward, hugging Gabe like he used to when they were friends. Even if he couldn’t have a happily ever after, Tyler wasn’t going to stop Gabe from having his.

-

“You can do this.” Pete whispered to himself as the clouds overhead started to roll with the incoming storm. He’d thought over what Patrick had said to him before, and god was he right. Pete didn’t love Patrick like he did Mikey. He didn’t think about Patrick as much as he did Mikey. He didn’t miss Patrick at two in the morning like he did Mikey, and as much as Pete hated this, Patrick understood and supported him no matter what.

When the first raindrop hit Pete he was hitting the play button on the music player, sending the song Just You and I by Tom Walker blasting over the area. He stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket and turned as the rain started to pour. It wasn’t even thirty seconds into the song that he saw the blinds in the windows being pulled up and Mikey looking at him with sad eyes.

“What are you doing?!” Mikey yelled out the window, making Pete smile.

“I’m confessing that I love you in the cheesiest way I could think of.” Pete laughed as the rain poured over him. Mikey blinked before leaning back and closing the window and blinds, which sent Pete’s heart dropping to the floor. He turned and hit the stop button on the music player when a voice behind him spoke softly.

“I liked that song.” The voice laughed and Pete turned face to face with Mikey who was smiling again for once. “You’re an idiot Pete Wentz.” Mikey smiled as the rain made his hair stick to his face and the clothes to his skinny frame.

“I’ve fell in love with you years ago Mikey Way, I’ve been a blind idiot.” Pete laughed as Mikey stepped forward.

“You realize this doesn’t fix what you did.”

“I know.”

“And I’m still mad at you.”

“I know.”

“I’m still in love with you too,” Mikey said softly, connecting his and Pete’s lips as the rain poured over them.

-

July 20, 2015

Patrick was feeling something of a bittersweet sadness as he watched Pete and Mikey laughing and hugging from a distance. Patrick loved Pete and always would, but this is how this works isn’t it? You’re supposed to sacrifice for the one you love if it means making them happy once more. Still, he didn’t quite expect it to hurt this much.

“You ok?” a soft voice said to his side, making Patrick turn his head as his eyes landed on a small girl with curly black hair and a soft smile. “You’ve been staring at them for almost an hour.” He returned her soft smile and gave a soft bitter laugh to pair it with.

“The most painful thing in the world is watching the person you were with fall in love again.” Patrick whispered and the girl nodded, looking at Pete and Mikey before turning to Patrick once more.

“Don’t see it as something sad. This is a new start for you to do something you wouldn’t have done before.” She was smiling a genuine smile at this point and Patrick couldn’t help but return it.

“What’s your name?” Patrick said, moving so he could no longer see Pete. The girl grinned with a spark in her eye and held out her hand.

“Elisa.”

-

“Josh!” a voice called Josh from the back as he helped move a sound box for the last day of the games. He turned his head, seeing Gabe Saporta running towards him with a huge smile on his face.

“What do you want asshole?” Josh sighed, looking at Gabe with a nasty glare. Gabe reached him, resting his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

“You… have to…fix it… with Tyler.” He breathed heavily, making Josh roll his eyes and start walking away again.

“Well you ruined that one didn’t you?” Josh mumbled, and Gabe jogged to meet his side again.

“I was wrong. I was wrong about everything. Love is… fucking confusing man and you can’t just let him go like this. Everything was going to work out and I fucked with his head and I’m sorry but you have to fix this.” Gabe was smiling wildly.

“And why do you say this?” Josh eyed his skeptically. “Tyler was obviously ready to end this.”

“No he wasn’t!” Gabe sighed loudly, “Don’t be stupid! He’s in love with you ya idiot! He wrote you a fucking song dude.” Josh stopped at this, looking at Gabe with wide eyes.

“What?”

“Do you love him?” Gabe smiled.

“What?”

“Do. You. Love. Him.” He repeated, rolling his eyes, making Josh bite his lip and look down.

“Oh come on. I see the way you stare at him. Just… don’t hurt him again.” Gabe laughed, smiling even wider. He turned to leave when Josh turned and yelled to him.

“What changed with you?!” Josh yelled, now smiling but rolling his eyes at Gabe’s way of communicating.

Gabe stopped and smiled, looking over towards the judges table.

“I had a change of heart.”


	20. Chapter 20: The End

August 1, 2015

The stages set up all around as camps prepared for each of the musical acts. The judges, William, John, Jess, Danielle, Corrie, and somehow Gabe who probably snuck himself in there, all waited with buzzers in front of them for the campers to begin. Gabe spent his time pestering his new boyfriend, with John giving them looks as he was sat between them.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jess announced from her seat, “Welcome to the final round of the camp games.” A cheer erupted from the crowd. “As per usual the camps will take turns in showing all of their performances, and at the end the judges will rank each camp and present the awards.” The crowd erupted again and the camps started to be called. Finally, it was Camp Ember’s turn to take the stage.

The first up was Dan from Tyler’s group who decided to rap some song that turned put truly horrible. Still, it had Gabe and Danielle dying at the judges table, especially when he made the joke about dicks on fire.

After a few more mediocre performances it was time for the one and only Megan to take the stage. Now, if anyone knew how to put on a show, it was Megan, and she was damn sure she’d make an impression. So Frank and Gerard couldn’t help but start laughing when she walked out dressed like it was the seventies, per Gerard’s suggestion.

“Hello everyone,” she smiled sweetly, “I’m going to be playing a song that my mentor taught me. It means a lot to him, and therefore meant a lot to me.” She smiled and sat down with her guitar on a stool in the middle of the stage. Frank nudged Gerard’s side, telling him he wasn’t ready for what was about to happen. Then like Satan possessed the girl, she started screaming the beginning to All Star. Gabe and William were in tears, and Jess was choking on her water. John had run out of the judges table towards the stage to join her and Danielle repeatedly smacked her buzzer as hard as she could screaming “fuck no bitch.” Megan tried to stop singing but every time she’d start Dani would smack the buzzer again and scream ‘no’. Gerard and Frank were crying in the corner, making a point to never let her sing again.

Finally, after everyone caught their breath, Megan was taken off the stage after her shit post of a performance, and the final performer came onto the stage. It was a little girl, a pink bow in her dark brown hair, smiling brightly as she walked to the piano towards the side of the middle stage. From the audience, her wreck of an older brother smiled brightly at his step sister.

She took a seat on the small stool and took a deep breath before placing her hand lightly on the keyboard, starting the first note. This wasn’t a song anyone but Gabe, and Brendon recognized, as this one was a Tyler Joseph original. It was soft, yet upbeat, and was called Ruby. He’d always said it was a song of innocence, and as Brendon looked over the young girl, she knew the song was perfect.

When the girl finished, the crowd erupted into cheers and she bowed before running off the stage.

-

“Princess that was perfect!” Josh cheered as he picked up his step sister, making her giggle and twist in his arms. “Where in the world did you learn to play the piano like that?”

“Mr. Joseph taught me.” She smiled, “He said that he loved you very much and we made a song.” She smiled. Josh paused, his smile faltering a little.

“He’s pretty great isn’t he?” Josh sighed, “Have you seen him princess? I need to speak to him. I really need to apologize for something.” The girl bit her lip and shook her hair, her brown hair flying wildly.

“He left.” She said softly.

“Where’d he go then?” Josh smiled, rolling his eyes as she smiled.

“Home. He’s getting married!” She laughed and Josh paused, but when she saw him she stopped giggling too. “What wrong?”

“I’m in love with him.”

_

The plane ride was too quiet for Tyler’s liking. He sat alone, watching as Jenna and Debby giggled together, both of them excited for the wedding to come. Tyler however wasn’t ready. As the plane left the ground, Tyler knew that his tie to Josh was being cut with the sharp end of a knife, and this was going to be the end.

“Ty?” Jenna whispered from the side, “You ok?” He looked at her, shaking his head honestly. “Maybe this is for the best. You’ll be happier the way things were arranged before.”

-

“I need to get on the plane to Ohio,” Josh told the lady at the counter, barely being able to catch his breath. The black haired girl smiled and typed on her computer before looking up and frowning at Josh.

“I’m sorry sir our last flight to Ohio for the evening just left.” She bit her lip and typed a few more things into the lap top before looking up once more. “The soonest I can get you on one is tomorrow around nine, does that work for you?”

“You can’t get any sooner?” Josh asked, leaning onto the counter a little, “the person I’m in love with is about to make a huge mistake.”

“I’m sorry sir I wish I could do more. Can I get you the flight tomorrow though?” Josh sighed and nodded… if Tyler would just wait long enough…

-

“Tyler, you ready son?” Tyler’s father clapped him on the shoulder, landing with a soft thud on the nice suit that Tyler was currently wearing. The church was small and nice looking, with little white flowers everywhere. Tyler had disagreed on that end, but it was her decision not his.

“As ready as ever I guess.” Tyler said softly.

“Oh come on boy, people are waiting. Beside maybe coming back for this was the best decision, and you know how much it’d break her heart if you didn’t actually show up. You put a lot of work in on this one.” His dad smiled, and Tyler attempted a weak one as he walked with his father towards the rest of the wedding party.

He took a deep breath.

And walked out towards the crowd.

-

Josh ran as fast as he could down the road to the church Brendon told him to go to. He wasn’t exactly accustom to the area of Columbus, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t run every street if he had to. The delay in his flight tha morning certainly didn’t help much either though, as now he was even later than he planned.

Cursing to himself, Josh almost ran right pass the big white doors of the small church. He made it. He ran forward, ready to object and pushed open the doors, but no one was sat inside but a girl who was sitting, cleaning up flowers.

“Sir?” a girl asked, sitting outside with a small group of people, her brown hair fell over eyes, “can I help you? I’m Audree, part of the wedding crew here.” Josh looked around at the empty room and felt tears welling up in his eyes.

“The groom.” He managed, but the girl frowned.

“Running late? Sorry dude, you just missed the wedding. The couple drove away to the airport about half an hour ago. It’s just me and some family cleaning up now.” She said softly as Josh nodded sadly.

Tyler had just gotten married.

Tyler was gone forever.

“I can get you a ride if you’d like?” She asked softly, and Josh nodded before mumbling that he’d wait outside. The doors opened with a creak and he walked to the marble steps where he sat down. He wasn’t sure his brain was even processing this. He was simply in shock.

The church doors opened and Josh heard Audree speak.

“Sorry I couldn’t get a cab but one of the family members wi-”

“Josh?” a voice spoke softly, making Josh’s head snap around. There standing before him, holding a basket of flowers was Tyler Joseph, his eyes wide in shock. “What are you doing here?” Josh’s eyes widened as well.

“Me? What about you? I thought you were going to get married, I flew here to stop you. I realized that I was wrong and stupid and in love with you for god’s sake.” Tyler’s wide eyes softened and he started giggling, before that turned into uncontrollable laughter.

“I’m… not getting… married,” he giggled, “my… sister did.” He was practically in tears from laughing when Josh stood up, now smiling as well.

“Tyler Joseph I’m madly in love with you.” Josh smiled, grabbing Tyler’s hands. Finally the boy stopped giggling, and smiled.

“You idiot.” He grinned, kissing Josh once more.

-

Someone slid their hands over Jenna’s eyes, making her smile as she turned to kiss her beautiful girlfriend. The two had planned to move in together, and Debby was going back to Ohio with her.

From the side, Frank and Gerard watched, both of them smiling at each other. Frank and Gerard were going to be married in a few months in their home state of New Jersey. Megan was not to play at the wedding.

The two once rival camps now worked together, and both of the feuds were sorted out. Hayley now cheers for them both at the games.

Brendon and Ryan were happy, deciding to take things slow for once and instead adopt a dog together. Brendon would be moving in with the boy her fell for.

Patrick had happily joined a relationship with Elisa after a few weeks, and he never stopped smiling.

Mikey and Pete were happy and in love as they once were, even if they fight occasionally.

Ray had proposed to Melanie the night after the games, and she never stopped telling people about it.

Tyler and Josh… they found their happy ending.


End file.
